The Rural Voice, 2002-03, Page 12SKIDSTEER LOADERS
Various models - equipment
options include:
• backhoe
• hydraulic breaker
• 12" & 24" posthole digger
• 9" wood chippers
Hourly or Daily Rates
Full line of construction
equipment for sale or rent
Dealer for
STIHL Saws
SAUGEEN RENTALS
Durham 369-3082
A.C. SCHENK RENTALS
Mt. Forest 323-3591
SCHMIDT'S
FARM DRAINAGE
1990 LTD.
• FARM DRAINAGE
• EROSION CONTROL
• BACKHOEING &
EXCAVATIONS
Frank Fischer, Harriston
519-338-3484
1-877-798-8821
ib
"We install ,ATjlE drainage tubing."
8 THE RURAL VOICE
Robert Mercer
Drinking water problems `worse than Walkerton'
Robert
Mercer was
editor of the
Broadwater
Market Letter
and
commentator
for 25 years.
Believe it or not, here on the west
coast of Canada where we get a lot
of rain, we are still short of fresh,
clean drinking water. Because of
this, there was an excellent turnout at
an information meeting last month to
increase the awareness of where our
fresh water comes from and how to
better manage that supply.
We get an average of 95 cm of
precipitation a year, with the month
of December at 165 mm, and July at
only 23 mm. Most of our drinking
water comes from.groundwater as
our rivers are short and therefore
fluctuate in their flows.
Drinking water is a hot topic here
though we are at least 3,000 km from
Walkerton and a 1,000 km from.
North Battleford where problems
woke the world up to the importance
of keeping water pure. The
discussion the other night was both
on quality and supply. There was
added interest due to the new
provincial legislation, and the review
of that legislation — the BC Drinking
Water Protection Act.
With most of the local water
coming from aquifers, the
stewardship group wanted to make
the general public and local
politicians aware of how fragile our
total water system is when
development of all kinds expands '
over the land surface which is our
watershed.
Our catchment basin is not
fenced. It is not protected and it has
no major reservoir. There is even
talk now of a 265 megawatt power
generating system planned for a
location right on our town's drinking
water aquifer.
Local concerns are more about
particular wells, both private and
community supply, old garbage
dumps, ditches full of hazardous
materials, (even old hydro
transformers) dumps of construction
materials, and gravel pits in the
aquifer itself where waste road
building materials are discarded
almost at groundwater level. We are
in fact, as the stewardship
spokesman said, "a disaster waiting
to happen, worse than Walkerton".
However, on the larger scale of
things the big unknown at the time of
the meeting was who was going to
be in charge of our new Water Act.
The Review Committee to the act
recommended that there be a "single
lead agency" or what might be called
a Super Board. The original act
called for a split jurisdiction.
Drinking water in BC has had '
input from 10 ministries in the past
and this had led to prolonged
bureaucratic turf wars and a lack of
concise decision-making for
problems involved with water from
source to tap. The Review Panel
strongly supports the single lead
agency approach and the need to
give drinking water the profile it
deserves.
We were told at the meeting that
the 30,000 urban and rural residents
of the area draw off 4 million cubic
meters of water a year for household
use.
Within this watershed we have
over 4,000 septic systems many of
which have passed their prime. The
stewardship team also estimated that
there would be about 25,000 animals
(domesticated and wild).
The sale of bulk fresh water to
business and homeowners in this
area is brisk. That tells something
of the citizens' concerns. But
what we need now is something
similar to the approach taken by
Grey, Bruce and Huron Counties to
define their groundwater areas uses
and assess them as was noted in The
Rural Voice February issue's
"Update".0