Winnipeg Free Press > No Running Water > Living Without Running Water

No Running Water
Back to No Running Water Home

Thousands of Island Lake residents still haul their drinking water in pails from a community tap and rely on outhouses or latrine buckets that some dump on the ground close to home. What will it take for these Manitobans to secure what the United Nations recognizes as an essential human right to safe water and sanitation?

View full size video player on new page

Slideshows by Area

Click on an icon below to view a slideshow of that community

Articles

  • Price tag for running water, toilets $29M

    It would cost $29 million -- about one-tenth the price of Winnipeg's new state-of-the-art water treatment plant -- to provide running water and flush toilets to thousands of northern Manitobans living in Third World conditions.

  • Feds, province agree to bring running water to Island Lake

    OTTAWA -- The provincial and federal governments agreed Friday to a joint program to give running water to homes in the Island Lake region of Manitoba.

  • First Nations to alert UN to water woes

    OTTAWA -- First Nations leaders from northern Manitoba are taking their water crisis to the United Nations.

  • Share the wealth, grand chief says

    The people of Island Lake are not asking for handouts to help get running water into their homes, Northern Manitoba Grand Chief David Harper told a public meeting organized Friday night to explore whether the Mennonite Central Committee could help.

  • A Manitoba solution?

    OTTAWA -- The Manitoba government is willing to consider a partnership with Ottawa to get clean drinking water piped into homes on northern Manitoba reserves.

  • Northern chiefs want water

    OTTAWA -- Northern Manitoba aboriginal leaders want clean running water in every home on reserves within two years.

  • Aboriginal leaders call for action on running water

    OTTAWA -- Northern Manitoba aboriginal leaders were in Ottawa this morning demanding the federal government put in place a plan to have clean running water in every northern reserve within two years.

  • Manitoba formally seeks help to build permanent road

    OTTAWA -- The Manitoba government formally asked Ottawa Wednesday for help to expedite construction of an all-weather road into Island Lake.

  • Glover to meet Island Lake chiefs

    The federal government is sending Indian Affairs parliamentary secretary Shelly Glover to meet with Island Lake chiefs this weekend to discuss what can be done to address the lack of basic services in the impoverished Manitoba region.

  • Chiefs push for road in north

    Speeding up construction of a $1.4-billion all-weather road from Norway House to Island Lake is the best way to ensure thousands of First Nations residents get running water, their chiefs said Monday.

  • VIDEO: Chiefs address running-water issue

    Manitoba chiefs proposed a solution to the lack of running water in Island Lake homes at an afternoon news conference.

  • Do upgrades now, most in poll say

    Island Lake communities deserve immediate plumbing upgrades to make sure homes there finally get running water, according to a survey conducted this fall for the Free Press.

  • Public health emergency

    IT'S time to call a public health emergency in Island Lake, says Manitoba Grand Chief Ron Evans.

  • Water woes cause concern

    Canadians are concerned about First Nations' drinking water problems, once they're made aware of them.