Ontario First Nation declares state of emergency after wastewater system failure

A remote First Nations community in northern Ontario is under a state of emergency after a rupture in its wastewater system caused raw sewage to leak into a nearby river.A pump at Marten Falls First Nation’s wastewater lift system failed on Dec. 13, sending untreated sewage into a creek and ultimately into the nearby Albany River, a nearly 1,000-kilometre-long waterway that provides the intake for the community’s water supply. The community declared a state of emergency this past Monday.