A two-month-old boil-water advisory in Sachs Harbour may be lifted as early as this week, but Northwest Territories health officials say people should still boil their tap water until told otherwise.

Residents in the Arctic hamlet of 122 have been under the advisory since July 10, after two faulty chlorine pumps at the water treatment plant caused bacteria to enter the hamlet's water truck.

The treatment plant has since been repaired and the staff has been retrained, said Duane Fleming, the N.W.T.'s chief environmental health officer.

"The last couple months, not a lot has happened," Fleming told CBC News.

"The community was ordered to get their chlorination equipment operational, and to also do their required testing and sampling on a daily and weekly basis and reporting that to health [officials]. And that wasn't being done."

Fleming said the advisory might finally be lifted by the end of this week, depending on tests being done to ensure the water is safe to drink.

But Sachs Harbour residents like Manny Kudlak said they've already been taking a risk with unboiled tap water.

"Myself, I haven't really been too concerned with what they're saying with the water," Kudlak said. "I've been drinking it for at least two months and I haven't really gotten very ill."

Kudlak added that many elders have been exercising their traditional knowledge to get another source of clean water: "They only use ice water and snow water for drinking," he said.

"They get their young people with young backs and weak minds to go and pick up some ice and snow for them."

But Fleming said it might not be a good idea for residents like Kudlak to rely on unboiled water from the local supply.

"We can't guarantee that the water is safe to drink," Fleming said. "It was positive for a bacteria ... that will indicate that the water could be contaminated with other bacteria from a fecal source."