Report means further testing of FN water quality

The Federal Government has approved an 18-month contract for all First Nations across Canada to have their water and wastewater tested. It is no secret that many First Nations have been surviving with water that is below standards for years. However, one leader of Saskatchewan First Nation is skeptical that improvements will be made.
Ochapowace First Nation band councilor Elvis Henry said his band has had their water tested several times, but very little has been done to solve any of the problems.
"They create jobs for individuals to do testing, but the problem is, there are never any dollars attached to those tests," said Henry, who is frustrated by what he described as "the waiting game" for the Federal Government to allocate money to specific First Nations.
"We were after a low-pressure water system for seven years before we finally got any action," said Henry.

Neegan Burnside Ltd. is a Canadian engineering firm who won the bid to perform water testing for 607 First Nation communities.
The contract was awarded by the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Chuck Strahl on May 25. The majority owned Aboriginal firm is expected to provide an up-to-date account of water and wastewater systems on reserves. The goal is to identify specific needs of each community.
The $8.2 million contract is a part of the water and wastewater action plan that was renewed by Minister Strahl in April 2008. At the time, the government announced a $330 million, two-year investment to deliver clean and safe drinking water to First Nations communities.
"Moving forward with this initiative is another example of the tangible progress and real action we are taking to improve water quality on reserves," said Minister Strahl in a press release that announced the water and wastewater contract.
Neegan Burnside professional engineer, Heather Mackenzie, explained that the entire project is divided into phases. The first phase is sorting the logistics of when each reserve will be visited. Phase two will be the collection of existing data and the final phase is the physical testing of each reserve.
"The goal is to look at what meets guidelines and looking at what is the current servicing level and what is recommended in terms of moving forward," said Mackenzie.
The site visits will commence in September; however, with the typically early onset of Canada's winter season, the remainder of the sites will receive visits in Spring of 2010. The firm remains optimistic despite a firm completion deadline of October 2010.
"We're pleased we won the contract [and] to be able to undertake the challenge," said Neegan Burnside CEO, Merv Dewasha.
The contract is a part of the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business (PSAB), which was created by the Federal Government in order to increase the number of Aboriginal suppliers.
Any business bidding for a contract under PSAB must have at least a 51 per cent Aboriginal ownership and a minimum of one-third of the staff must be Aboriginal.
Consulting engineers from the KGS Group have been hired by Neegan Burnside to carry out some of the testing in Saskatchewan First Nations.