Check your water meter regularly. That was the message that leaked out of Shire Hall last week. It is not likely the average homeowner on municipal water could spill as much as the Lavers did at their cottage resort over the summer, without some evidence of malfunction. But a running toilet, a leaky faucet or broken water treatment equipment can waste a lot of water—and money. As the Lavers found out, the ground can also soak up a lot of water and send it back to the aquifer without an obvious sign of trouble if you don’t check your water consumption on a regular basis.

The water system on your property is your responsibility. Period. Whether you use it sparingly, scrub that Camaro everyday or let it run through a faulty toilet— the expense is all yours. That lesson became painfully clear to the Lavers this week. (Incidentally laver is a French word meaning wash or bathe, a bit of twisted irony that I’m sure does nothing at all to ease the couple’s anguish over a $13,000 water bill).

That said, it seems reasonable and prudent that the operator of the water system, in this case the municipality, might work up a system of alerts and a notification protocol. It should be able to know that between x and y pumping station, a certain amount of water is expected to be consumed over the course of a day/week/month. If the volume exceeds that greatly, then home and business owners could be advised to check their system.

They knew all along

At least seven years ago the Ministry of Environment knew industrial wind turbines were making people sick—that they were “producing large numbers of complaints alleging adverse health affects due to noise from the 133 wind turbines and the associated step-up transformer station.”

In documents accessed through a Freedom of Information request submitted more than 18 months ago, Ministry officials acknowledge the flood of complaints. They visited some of the complainants’ homes and confirmed “the noise emissions are in fact causing material discomfort to the residents in and around their homes” even though the turbine noise met provincial standards for noise.

As a result of these findings, the Ministry embarked on a plan to mitigate the health impact of industrial wind turbines upon nearby homeowners. But that plan disappeared.

Instead, in 2010, the province’s Chief Medical Officer Arlene King issued a report saying she had reviewed the medical literature and could find no direct evidence that industrial wind turbines caused health issues.

The province was off the hook. The homeowners were mistaken. The province’s own Ministry of Environment officials were mistaken too. King could find nothing in the published studies to prove turbines made people sick. So they weren’t sick. Or if they were, perhaps the suffering of the cluster of families living underneath the massive electricity generators was coincidental?

The North American Platform against Windpower (NA-PAW) has called for the resignation of Dr. King in light of what it calls “willful blindness” on the part of the Chief Medical Officer.

“These officers have the moral and legal duty to protect human health, but have instead apparently covered the issues with “policy” that continues to degrade not only health, but also our ability to trust our highest public officers,” said Sherri Lange, head of NA-PAW.

The right call

I’m with the monkey. Given the choice between wondering aimlessly through the labyrinthine aisles of IKEA pawing through excessive quantities of phlarges and blinkens or waiting in the comparatively austere and placid parking lot—I’ll wait outside. Particularly if I’ve got a comfy coat and a warm diaper. I’m good.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca