A group of Yukon and Alaska first nation governments wants the territory to start building a new sewage treatment facility for Dawson City very soon.

But the territorial government, which is now in control of Dawson City, wants to first fight the court order requiring the town to build a sewage treatment facility.

Rob Rosenfeld, the Alaska regional director of the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council (YRITWC), said today the group doesn't want to wait much longer to see the plant built because the sewage being pumped into the Yukon River is not clean enough.

'We want ground broken this spring,' Rosenfeld in an interview from Seattle, where he was travelling. Rosenfeld is based in Fairbanks.

'The court ruling needs to be adhered to.'

In March 2003, territorial Judge Heino Lilles ruled that Dawson City had to build a secondary sewage treatment plant because its current facility does not do enough to clean up what is pumped into the river.

Faeces, urine, food waste, detergents and water are all collected at Dawson's primary treatment plant. They're passed through a screen that removes all solids bigger than .75 mm and piped into the Yukon River.

It was determined through testing the sewage being pumped into the Yukon River from Dawson City is too toxic.

While there was no direct evidence of damage to fish, dumping sewage on a daily basis will contribute incrementally to the environment's gradual deterioration, Lilles ruled 13 months ago.

Even calling Dawson's current sewage plant a treatment facility 'overstates the situation considerably,' the judge said at the time.

Dawson dumps about one million cubic metres, about one billion litres, of sewage yearly, Lilles noted in his decision. It's one of five Canadian cities cited by the Sierra Legal Defence Fund for dumping sewage straight into the environment.

The council, which represents more than 50 aboriginal governments on both sides of the border, has a goal of making the Yukon River water drinkable within 50 years.

While the council wants to see work on this facility begin soon, the territorial and municipal governments feel the ruling was unfair and required the town to do too much.

Earlier this month, Community Services Minister Glenn Hart expressed concerns with the court a few days after he fired Dawson City's mayor and council and replaced them with a trustee on his payroll.

'The order that they're under isn't reasonable, given the solution that was provided which was the very costly sewage treatment facility,' said Hart.

'Why should Dawson City be responsible for delivering their solid waste any different than anybody else in Canada, ie Halifax or Victoria where it goes right into the ocean(s)?'

The minister said the government is looking for an economical and reasonable solution.

Rosenfeld doesn't think the government should be questioning Lilles' ruling.

'To challenge that democratic and judicial process, I do not think is wise, at this stage.'

But if the government does not start building the secondary plant soon, the YRITWC will exert heavy pressure to get the job done.

Rosenfeld said the council could call in the International Joint Commission to enforce the 1909 Transboundary Water Treaty between Canada and the United States which the group believes is being violated.

Due to the lack of progress, the YRITWC wrote a letter to Premier Dennis Fentie on April 15, two days after the government took over control of Dawson City.

'We ask that it now becomes a top priority and that construction begins this spring,' Rosenfeld wrote in his letter.

Five days later, Fentie sent a response to Rosenfeld stating: 'Our government is fully committed to building a proper secondary sewage treatment facility in Dawson City that will meet the most current standards while employing the most modern technology.'

The premier also invited the council to put a member on the project management team.

However, the letter did not placate Rosenfeld.

'The letter is not adequate,' Rosenfeld said. 'It doesn't clearly state the timeline of the working committee he's put together.'

He said the letter does not say how much money the government plans to make available for this project nor when construction will begin.

Rosenfeld doesn't want a program that will drag along.

'We want timelines and we want design and we want to know when the ground will be broken,' said Rosenfeld.

Fentie said his letter to Rosenfeld was consistent with Hart's concerns of two weeks ago, showing that the government's priority is to deal with the sewage.

However, NDP Leader Todd Hardy disagrees.

'I would say he is contradicting Hart' with the letter, said Hardy.

'I believe he's saying all the right things because of the letter.'

Hardy doesn't think Fentie intends to follow the court requirements.

'I would say it's important for them to meet the requirements,' added Hardy.

Rosenfeld indicated the council has already contacted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's international division about its concerns.

'We will be applying pressure at the U.S. federal and Canadian federal levels, if we don't make progress at (the territorial) level,' he said.

Rosenfeld believes the government should be able to build the appropriate facility.

'I don't think we're asking for something beyond their capacity.'