Silent Heroes

An old tanker carriage in "Old Town" Yellowknife

There's much talk these days of heroes...anyone who has done anything, other than routine, in our current society is instantly labelled as such. While it may be true, the constant use of the word has diluted, in my mind, the very meaning of the word. The many, who have sacrificed their lives, while performing heroic acts certainly deserve that title.

Yellowknife's "OLD TOWN" still uses the "pick up" service

Others perhaps less so, but in this headline grabbing world in which we live, I'm certainly not going to be able to change that. So let's consider for a moment those “unsung heroes”...people who go out of their way, on a regular basis, to do good....but seldom get the recognition that they deserve.

We could list many under this title, but for this edition, I'd like to restrict it to those men and women providing a necessary service, in all types of weather, to the many hamlets and communities that rely on the transportation of drinkable water and the removal of sewage.

A water tanker being loaded next to the Cambridge Bay hamlet garage

These are the very necessities of life, once an area is settled, and cannot be taken for granted. The contamination of our drinking water results in disease and our ultimate demise. There has been talk, recently, of the poor conditions on some of the native reserves. While this may seem true and the reasons varied, I would rather relate the story to my recent experiences and what I observed directly. 

The water tanker fleet in Cambridge Bay hamlet garage

There are many spots, in Canada, where is has been unfeasible to lay water and sewage lines underground. The overall costs involved, the climate, and the terrain are 3 factors that contribute to the physical use of tank trucks for both waste and water in many communities including Cambridge Bay and Yellowknife. As northern communities expand, facilities continue to improve.

CamBay Water Tanker on it's way for delivery

My extended stay in Yellowknife, at the beginning of my northern adventure, allowed the privilege to travel the city, by transit, to “Old Town”. This area was, of course, the frontier beginnings of Yellowknife located on an inlet of the Great Slave Lake and based upon a gold mining beginning. The section of town has expanded and modernized over the years.

You travel across some bridges...over frozen rivers and streams...to get there. The rising rugged granite formations border the roads on one side while housing on the other buffers the waters edge. Yellowknife is a modern city of 21,000 that has grown from its 1940's population of just 1,000. Its roots originated in, of course, “Old Town”.

Water and Sewage connections on a three-plex

Just like Cambridge Bay, I had noticed the trucks travelling these streets. I never took much thought of them until, while walking along the snowy streets, I happened upon an old tank sitting atop a wooden carriage. It was covered by snow and ice, parked along the side of a building, but it's message was clear...the preservation of an historical artifact...a legacy of the past.

Sewage pick up provided by a different fleet

If your area of a community is not served by water and sewage lines, the only way to maintain habitation is to have it delivered and removed. This is not such a stretch of the imagination as there are many dwellings in rural Niagara that are serviced by water delivery tank trucks.

This difference in our southern location is with our soil thickness. We can use septic systems to handle our waster water allowing a return to the water table through a system of weeping tiles. In the North, where there is little soil, mostly rock layers, it is far more difficult.

Two person crews man both the sewage and water delivery trucks

The infrastructure to do this, relies on the regularly scheduled arrival of fresh potable water and the removal of waste from holding tanks. Of course, there are two different trucks to do this. They have different shapes and different crews, usually two person teams for safety reasons.

The "old" tank farm in town

While water conservation has become more popular of late, when you are on a well, a cistern, or tanked water, you are much more aware of your usage. With this practise, the shower lasts a little less. Last weekend's Superbowl commercial for Colgate stressed the importance of smart usage of our resources. The drought in California is starting to make people much more aware of water conservation.

In Cambridge Bay, there were multiple reminder notices posted in the laundry room of the apartment building. The same notice was affixed in each kitchen reminding residents that “NO WATER DELIVERY OCCURS DURING BLIZZARDS”.

The "new" Hamlet offices with a view of the GN dock
located next to the "old" tank farm

In the centre of the community, not far from the new Hamlet offices sits the old tank farm still operational. It's only 750 yards from the main GN (Government of Nunavut) dock and the new tank farm sits near the airport just outside town. I imagine over the next couple of years the old farm will disappear and the land reclaimed for housing or commercial purposes...it's sloped and has a beautiful view of the bay.

Diesel fuel delivery trucks also travel the roads

The other delivery trucks travelling about are those tankers delivering home heating fuel throughout the hamlet. There are fewer of them but they are a necessary requirement for the variety of housing that exists. All gasoline and diesel fuels are delivered once a year by visiting tanker ship. Deliveries must be adequate to maintain projected generation of electric power, home and business heating and fuel needed for all vehicles, snow sleds and construction equipment.  

There are things about life in the north, that we southerners take for granted besides water lines and sewers. In many locations in the north, because there are no water lines...there are no fire hydrants as well.

On my last Sunday, the sunset at the GN dock just before 2 p.m.

In an previous edition, I mentioned that whenever the fire warning siren in town wailed....other than the daily noon and ten p.m. soundings, the men and women of the water delivery service also respond, as do the volunteer firefighters. If required, water is then pumped by the firefighters from the tanks of their fire truck and then it's replenished to the fire truck...from the tanks of the water delivery trucks.

There are the silent heroes in any situation. In the dark early hours of those January mornings I could see them coming into work, starting to fill their truck tanks with that precious water, and then spending the day about town...working their magic to deliver to homes and businesses. We would wave at each other, a greeting quite common here.

The same label can be applied to the pickup crews...they work their special skills so we aren't backed up..so to speak. These folk also get less attention but really they should get more...maybe this edition will help.

To the Men & Women that work tirelessly to keep us healthy with the prompt (except in blizzard conditions) and efficient use of these trucks, we are indebted. Although we often take you for granted, we appreciate the work you do...for us. They are the unsung heroes and to that we can only say “THANKS” or “TANKS” which ever they would prefer.