Safe

It has been 11 years since seven people died drinking municipal water in Walkerton, Ontario. Twenty-five hundred more got sick from water that had been contaminated by E. coli bacteria that May day in 2000.

Run off from nearby farms was found to be the cause of the outbreak. It had been known for years that the well was vulnerable to contamination. Further, the two brothers tasked with managing the town’s waterworks lacked any formal training in operating or ensuring the safety of a municipal water system. In a plea agreement, the Koebel brothers admitted to falsifying records and drinking on the job. Worse, in the inquiries that followed it was revealed Walkerton Public Utilities knew it had a problem days before it told the public.

This tragedy was entirely preventable.

Since then, regulations and standards governing the supply of municipal water have been layered on like quilts on a cold winter night. More than a decade later we continue to find new ways to ensure the horror that befell Walkerton doesn’t happen elsewhere in Ontario.

This, of course, is a reasonable and natural response. We need to be able to trust that when we turn on the tap the water won’t kill us or make us sick. There is always, however, a cost. Security and assurance comes at a price—a rather significant price, it turns out. Municipalities in the province have been compelled to invest billions in new infrastructure, new systems and new training to meet new standards. Many jurisdictions have strained under the new burden—passing on massive increases in costs to the households served by the water system.

This municipality has just invested $30 million in a new wastewater treatment facility and expects to spend another $55 million ($47 million in Picton alone) to further upgrade the County’s waterworks systems. This is merely to catch up to current standards.

But the fallout from Walkerton continues. For the past couple of years a committee composed of municipal representatives, waterworks and Conservation Authority staff has been thinking about how to better protect municipal water at its source (see story page 4).

They have spent many months examining maps, understanding water flows, topography, soil density and other factors to determine what poses a threat to a municipal water source and how to erect a defence system to protect it. In Prince Edward County, four water sources are being examined: Peats Point (a well system); Ameliasburgh (Roblin Lake);Wellington (Lake Ontario); and Picton (Picton Bay). Consecon and Carrying Place’s water is supplied and regulated by Quinte West. However, part of Belleville’s water supply could be affected by adverse events in and around Rossmore, so this municipality also has the responsibility to monitor this region for threats to Belleville’s water system.

To do this, the working committee has drawn irregular concentric circles around each water source, capturing private and institutional land in the vicinity. Potential threats including fuel tanks, septic tanks, manure storage and agricultural operations within the prescribed zones will be subject to close monitoring and inspection.

Farming groups are growing increasingly wary of the implications to their business. Municipalities are equally nervous about who is going to pay for the new inspection and remediation regime. It seems the only ones not yet worried about the cost of the ever-ex- panding effort to sanitize our water supply are the ratepayers who will bear the additional costs of safe and secure water.

Lower income residents and small businesses including farmers, will feel the impact hardest. Families may have to make choices which may also have implications on health and well being. The ability of farmers and small businesses to compete with larger companies is diminished because they are unable spread the extra cost of increased regulation across a broad organization. Instead they have to pass on this cost directly to their customers—eroding their competitiveness.

This is not to say that this new regulation regime isn’t warranted or justified. In fact the Walkerton fiasco and the lives lost required a strong and comprehensive response.

Yet it is important to bear in mind that actions have consequences, and government actions carry big costs that must be borne by ratepayers—which in turn narrows options that can have an impact on the health and well being of individuals and families.

We must also bear in mind that despite the improved quality of municipal water about 3,000 Canadians will become sick due to E. coli bacteria infection this year through contact by other means.

Governments have an important role in public safety—individuals have a greater one.We must continue to strive to keep these responsibilities in proper balance.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca