Iqaluit residents still without water 'furious' over lack of information

The City of Iqaluit promised Sunday that water would "soon" be flowing in all homes.

But after nearly fivedays some residents still don't have running waterand don't know what's happening.

On Sunday morning Paul Keenainak told CBC that crews had succeeded and "thawed the water mains" in part of theutilidor system.

Keenainak, who is listed by the city as the point of contact for inquiries on the water situation, declined to comment further. He saidthe City of Iqaluit wasworking on a public service announcementto be released later that day.

No press release was issued as of 5:30pm local time.

On the Facebook site Iqaluit Public Service Annoucements,Naya Reynderswrote that the situation is confusing.

"We all have frozen pipes in our house because we haven't had running water for four days. They told me we have to call plumbers to get the ice in our home pipes thawed. All the plumbers are busy today with emergency call outs. I am so disappointed with the lack of communication with the city," she wrote.

City workers distributed containers of water to residents on Saturday night. Thelack of running water affects about 15 housing units onSuputiStreet and somehomes arenow entering their fifthnightwithout running water.

'Nobody knows what's going on'

CBC producer SalomeAwasays the water at her house cut out Wednesday night. On Sunday morning she said the water had not yetreturned as the building's pipes were frozen.

"People arefurious, nobody knows what's going on," she said. "Most of these homes are social housingand many of these homes have many children and many people living in them," she said.

Awa says she had seen workers around the neighbourhood thawing parts of theutilitorsystem during the weekend. She says she broughtwater from a hotel to an elderly neighbour.

Acity announcementposted to Facebook on Friday said awatermain wasbeing attended by contractors "to thaw out a section of the pipe."

The announcementsaid work would continue until noon Friday, buthas not been updated since then.

'We need an update, I have three kids and no water," wroteEvie Arnaquqon a Facebook site called Iqaluit Public Service Announcements.

CBC will update this story as more information becomes available.