Low water on the Mackenzie River is forcing major changes to how the annual resupply of fuel and cargo reaches some northern communities this summer.
Instead of barging fuel and cargo down the Mackenzie River, the N.W.T.’s Marine Transportation Services will ship cargo overland and up the Dempster Highway, before delivery to communities by barge — a 4,000-kilometre detour.
Meanwhile, fuel destined for northern communities will take an even longer route around Alaska.
It’s all because of low water levels at the ramparts, near Fort Good Hope, N.W.T., where the river narrows from nearly two kilometres wide to just over 100 metres.
“This really is historically
