The Rural Voice, 2000-08, Page 55i
l
Huron County seeks
$3 million to help
fight water quality
problems
Huron County will put together a
"preproposal" to the Healthy Futures
for Ontario Agriculture program to try
to get $3 million in provincial funding
to help landowners combat water
quality problems.
In arguing for a large share of the
$90 million provincial program. the
county will point out that Huron is by
far the largest agricultural producing
county in the province with a high
population of livestock. The program
would focus on "best management"
practices to improve water quality and
would provide 70 per cent of the cost
of improvements landowners had to
make to manure storage facilities or
septic tanks that didn't meet standards.
The program would be administered
by the county at a cost of about
$50,000 a year for two years, Gary
Davidson, director of planning and
development told the July meeting of
Huron County Council.
Brian McBurney, reeve of Turnberry
worried there would be some controls
on who got funding under the program.
He said the CURB (Clean Up Rural
Beaches) program "built some of the
nicest hay storage buildings in the
county" with money supposed to be
used for manure storage.
Davidson said that by having all
applications approved by the
Agriculture and Public Works
committee and county council, it was
hoped there would be enough local
knowledge to know if anyone was
cheating.
Mason Bailey, reeve of Blyth said he
was disappointed in the amount of
money being asked for. Given the size
and importance of the county, the
tending wouldn't go far, he said.°
Huron MOH worried
about potential for
water problems
Could a Walkerton E. coli water
tragedy happen in Huron County?
Dr. Beth Henning. acting medical
office of health told Huron county
News
council. July t,. that ,he has concerns
about several issues.
Dr. Henning. who said she has been
harping on the subject of water quality
to the board of health for two or three
years. said she is concerned about three
issues, water security. risk of
contamination and actions that should
be taken.
Regarding water security, the doctor
said little is known about the status of
wells and well heads in most of the
county since the health unit only
receives samples if there is
contamination. "The security of the
wells themselves deserves attention but
this is an enormous undertaking." her
report said. "There are hundreds of
communal wells in our county which
should be assessed."
In addition, she said, the protocols
for chlorination of water should be
assessed.
Water is at risk from contamination
from agricultural sources, faulty
sewage systems and bypasses of
municipal sewage systems during
heavy rains, she said.
Dr. Henning said she had been
assured that there is not a high density
of livestock in Huron but that's based
on an average across the county. Some
areas have much higher populations
and, in these there can be overloading
of soil. And much of the statistical
information now available precedes the
recent building boom in Targe livestock
barns, Dr. Henning said.
"Some of the solutions are not
complicated," she said. "It astounds me
that we are still dealing with them,"
pointing to the problems of cattle not
being fenced off from streams.
Whatever the source of water
problems, the evidence there is a
problem is ample, she said. Six of 18
county beaches tested regularly last
year had E. coli readings above the
provincial standards for swimming
more than 50 per cent of the time.
On the issue of taking action. Dr.
Henning said Huron County had made
an excellent presentation to the
hearings into intensive livestock
conducted by MPP Douglas Galt.
Although a report from those hearings
has not been issued, she expects some
of the recommendations from Huron
would be adopted by Gait's committee.
The aquifer study being conducted in
Huron will give more information on
the health of the ground -water system,
Dr. Henning said.
The county needs to look at the
safety of communal wells and
abandoned wells, she said.
While much of the focus on water
problems is on agriculture, Bob Szusz,
reeve of Hullett, expressed his
concerns with malfunctioning
municipal water systems that dump
large amounts of raw sewage into Lake
Huron.
Klaus Seeger. senior public health
inspector, admitted Goderich had had
problems this year with the frequent
storms. The town has spent a lot of
money trying to cure the problem of
excess surface water going into the
sanitary sewer system and
overwhelming the sewage treatment
facilities, he said, and last year there
was only one such occurrence. This
year there have been more such
problems.°
Coming next month
watch for our feature
issue on
BEEF
SCHMIDT'S
FARM DRAINAGE
1990 LTD.
• FARM DRAINAGE
• EROSION CONTROL
• BACKHOEING &
EXCAVATIONS
Frank Fischer, Harrtston
519-338-3484
1-877-798-8821
"We install
drainage tubing."
AUGUST 2000 51