Title:
Planning the future of Water Supply in Pangnirtung
Agreement Number:
1005737
Agreement Value:
$415,800.00
Agreement Date:
Apr 1, 2023 - Mar 31, 2026
Description:
Municipal infrastructure including water supply, wastewater collection and treatment, underpin modern living and support public health. Developing and maintaining this infrastructure is challenging and costly in the Far North, where shortfalls and failure are acutely experienced. The availability of water supplies in sufficient quantities that meet, not only the water quality regulations but also the perceptions of Arctic residents, is fundamental. Many communities, including the Inuit Hamlet of Pangnirtung, collect water from rivers and store it in natural and manmade reservoirs, from which most or all of the municipally-supplied water derives. While such rivers and surface bodies are vital, communities are constrained by regulations limiting how much water can be drawn from either in order to ensure adequate streamflow or volume to support local ecology and aquatic species (Prowse et al 2006, Bakaic et al., 2018). For example, communities in Nunavut are allowed to pump no more than 10% of streamflow. According to Pangnirtung’s water license, it is not allowed to extract more than 120,000 m3 per year. In order to understand the sustainability of freshwater supplies in the remote northern/Arctic communities as well as potential erosion dynamics, the flow regime in the river must be well characterized and streamflow trends discerned under both current climate, and a range of climate change scenarios.
Organization:
National Research Council Canada
Expected Results:
In the short term, anticipated outcomes will be strengthened collaborations across industry, academia, and government to support research excellence. In the medium term, anticipated outcomes will be the development of new and potentially disruptive technologies with collaborators. In the long term, find collaborative solutions to public policy challenges and create stronger innovation systems.
Location:
Pangnirtung, Nunavut, CA X0A 0R0
Reference Number:
172-2023-2024-Q1-1005737
Report Type:
Grants and Contributions
Recipient Business Number:
107463762
Recipient Type:
Government
Recipient's Legal Name:
The Hamlet of Pangnirtung
Federal Riding Name:
Nunavut
Federal Riding Number:
62001
Program:
Collaborative Science, Technology and Innovation Program – Ideation Fund
Program Purpose:
The Ideation Fund is intended to encourage, test and validate transformative research ideas generated by teams of NRC scientific personnel and external collaborators with complementary capabilities, acting as a demonstration phase for a continually-evolving suite of research and development (R&D) deliverables at the NRC. The fund supports exploratory research through two mechanisms: the New Beginnings Initiative and the Small Teams Initiative.