Environmental experts are worried the cumulative effects of gas, oil and fuel spills aren't being adequately tracked in parts of the North. Last year, Nunavut and N.W.T. together recorded hundreds of contaminant spills, some of them small and others in the thousands of litres.

An Iqaluit city official told CBC News that a historical underground fuel spill found near the water treatment plant could explain why the city had to declare an emergency due to fuel-contaminated drinking water.

Eleven out of twenty-five communities in Nunavut have received boil water advisories in 2024 due to infrastructure and water quality issues, with efforts underway to upgrade aging systems.

Nunavut communities have seen a five-year high of water advisories in 2021, without counting Iqaluit’s ongoing water emergency. As of Friday, about a month before the year’s end, 14 water advisories had been issued in seven communities outside of the capital city this year, more than tripling the four advisories issued in 2017.

Oil from a nearby fuel container leaked through the water system in the lake most likely due to heavy rains of the past month. Cleanup efforts were ongoing this week. It’s not clear when the park will reopen.