The Rural Voice, 1993-03, Page 56GREY
County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
44610th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9
519-364-3050
• The Rural Voice is provided to all Grey
County Farmers by the GCFA.
Water that we take for granted
My son and I went for a snowmo-
bile ride the Sunday after Christmas
and stopped at our neighbour's place
where they were pulling pipes out of
the well. They told us the pipes had
frozen on Christmas Day and they
had no water.
As it was an excellent day for
snowmobiling, we drove on again
dropping in at another neighbour who
was also fixing water pipes in the
barn that had frozen and broken.
FARMING IS YOUR FUTURE
OFA IS THE VOICE OF FARMERS
MEMBERSHIP MARCH — MARCH 1-13
Today in most cases, water is there
for us at the turn of a tap and we tend
to take our water for granted.
I live 160 rods from the highest
point in Ontario. Eight miles from
our place an American company has
purchased a 300 -acre farm with 12
water wells on it ranging from 165
feet to 235 feet in depth. This com-
pany operates a Toronto business that
makes juice for drinking boxes. The
company wants to take water from
the wells down to the Toronto juice
business by truck. Their market
plans not only include domestic use
but their sights are set on the export
market, namely, the U.S. and possib-
ly even Mexico. However, under our
Free Trade Agreement with the U.S.
it states that water cannot be "piped"
to the U.S. There is nothing in the
FTA about trucking it to the U.S.
My concern is that we are situated
on the high point in our county, and
in fact Ontario, and what happens if
our wells begin to give us problems
such as bad water or our wells begin
to dry up entirely? I also wonder
GCFA Directors' Meeting
Thursday, March 25, 1993
OMAF Boardroom, Markdale
1:00 p.m.
Members are welcome to attend
52 THE RURAL VOICE
about neighbouring municipalities
such as Mount Forest, Dundalk,
Owen Sound, Cederville, Hopeville
and the surrounding townships.
In Proton Township there is a by-
law on agricultural land stating that
water is to be used for agricultural
use. The land in question is zoned as
agricultural land.
The issue of water use was recently
brought to the attention of the Proton
Township Federation and the Grey
County Federation of Agriculture.
GCFA Directors at their January
board meeting voted to support the
resolution from Culross Township
Council concerning the pumping of
water.
The following is the Culross
Township resolution passed at their
meeting held on December 9, 1992:
IF FARMING IS YOUR BUSINESS
OFA IS YOUR ORGANIZATION
MEMBERSHIP MARCH — MARCH 1-13
"Whereas the commercial pumping
of water from the aquifer may have
long-term implications on the supply
of potable water in any area; and,
Whereas the removal of water by
drilling or extracting by any other
method for the purposes of commer-
cial bottling on site or bulk removal
for processing off site is becoming
more a reality; and, Whereas, when
health and environmental regulations,
and zoning and building requirements
have been met, operations such as
this may be allowed to operate; and,
Whereas the water resource is a valu-
able commodity that has been under-
valued for years; now Therefore Be It
OFA — DON'T FARM WITHOUT IT
MEMBERSHIP MARCH — MARCH 1-13
Resolved that the Corporation of the
Township of Culross requests that
the County of Bruce and the Associ-
ation of Municipalities of Ontario
petition the Ministry of the Environ-
ment and the Ministry of Natural
Resources to provide municipalities
with a means to regulate and control
the removal of water for commercial
purposes or for resale, and also to
investigate the possibility of having
the water resource treated as a
commodity and financially valued
similar to the gravel resource,
whereby a system of revenue sharing
with a local municipality for the
maintenance of roads may be
realized." This resolution was to be
circulated to the municipalities in
Bruce and Grey Counties, County of
Bruce, County of Grey, AMO and
area MPPs and MPs.
NEW OFA MEMBERS
I would like to thank the 14 new
members from Proton Township who
joined the Ontario Federation of
Agriculture in 1992. During the
coming year I would like to
encourage as many or even more
members from our Township to join
the OFA. In unity there is strength.0
Wayne Caughill
GCFA Executive Director
MEMBERSHIP MARCH
OFA is Farmers Working For Farmers
Be a part of the voice that
represents your concerns!
When your representative calls, join us!
March 1-13