The ST. Catharines Standard
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
EDITORIAL

WAINFLEET needs senior government support
- A serious health problem is brewing in WAINFLEET, and thus far senior levels of government have been reluctant to do much about it.
Twice now, the township of WAINFLEET has submitted an application for money from the Canada-Ontario Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund to install a water and sewer system along the shore of Lake Erie.
Twice now, the township’s request has been denied.
This despite the fact a failing septic system has contaminated drinking water in private wells, threatens groundwater sources and Lake Erie itself.
This despite THE FACT THE LONG BEACH AREA HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED BY THE PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT as a growing health concern since 2001.
This despite the fact residents in the area have been living under a boil water advisory for the past two weeks.
It makes one wonder what exactly has to happen in a community before the federal and provincial governments ante up to address threats to public health.
The $65-million price tag for a water and sewer line is too steep for WAINFLEET to shoulder on its own. Even the support of Niagara’s regional government isn’t sufficient to lighten the load.
There is an outcry from the residents fearful of having to pay astronomical costs for the service.
While it is never nice to face increasing costs, there are times when public health trumps all.
Consider the costs if the entire community came down with illnesses related to contaminated drinking water?
Besides, with sufficient federal and provincial government support, the portion to be paid by the local homeowners diminishes considerably.
The WAINFLEET situation contrasts with the tragedy of Walkerton.
In that small community, human error and negligence led to community residents drinking water laced with E. coli bacteria.
It cost seven people their lives. It sparked a huge reaction across the province and led to the development and implementation of strict drinking water standards for municipalities.
Many of those standards have played a significant role in the escalating cost of water and sewer services in Ontario municipalities.
In WAINFLEET the only Niagara municipality without any water or sewer services community leaders are trying to be proactive.
A threat to public health has been identified.
A solution has been developed.
An environmental assessment has been completed.
Yet the federal and provincial governments continue to snub it.
This is a problem that has to be rectified immediately before someone gets sick or, even worse, dies.

IN THE NIAGARA THIS WEEK ---Apr 21, 2006

ARTICLE by Doug Draper

No Plans to Lift Boil Water Notice
Regional health officer will play Chicken Little to Wainfleet water critics, she says
NIAGARA
-- Call her Chicken Little if you like, but Niagara Region's chief medical health officer is determined to go on issuing a warning about contamination in Wainfleet water wells for as long as she has to.
Dr. Robin Williams used the Chicken Little reference to critics in the Wainfleet area and elsewhere who have accused her of going too far in issuing a boil water advisory last week to more than 2,000 owners of properties along and near the Lake Erie shoreline in the rural community.
Williams told Regional council last Thursday the boil water advisory, circulated for the first time a week ago Monday, follows three studies conducted since 2001, showing "profound contamination of the groundwater" around numerous private wells residents in Wainfleet use for drinking and other domestic purposes.
The studies have also found elevated concentrations of E. coli bacteria, similar to the strain that killed seven people and made more than 2,300 ill in the rural community of Walkerton, Ont., six years ago.
Williams said she and other regional public health officials recently consulted with a panel of experts from across the country who concluded "this was the time to issue a boil water advisory" for the community.
The Region's Public Health Department followed up by delivering advisories door to door in the Wainfleet area earlier this month and holding three open houses at Wainfleet township hall.
The advisory has received flack from more than a few Wainfleet residents who feel the tests on the well water are flawed and the Region is overblowing the seriousness of the situation. Some residents oppose the Region's idea of replacing leaky old septic tanks in the area-- the suspected source of the groundwater and well water contamination, with municipal sewer and water pipelines running to and from Port Colborne.
The sewer and water lines would cost an estimated $47-million and individual property owners could face costs ranging more than $30,000 unless the provincial and federal governments agree to pick up a portion of the costs.
Wainfleet council and the Region have applied for more than $30-million in senior government funding through the Canadian Ontario Municipal Infrastructure Fund, which could bring the costs for individual property owners down to somewhere between $15,000 and $17,000, according to Regional estimates.
St. Catharines Mayor Tim Rigby, who chairs the Region's public works committee which has received several reports on the contamination problem, said he believes the Region is going to have to take action to solve the problem "fairly quickly" if the provincial and federal governments don't come through with the COMRIF funding.
Referring to the Walkerton tragedy, Rigby stressed the last time the province had a problem with bacteria contamination in wells, "they didn't do anything and they had some serious problems and, in fact, some people died."
He asked if Williams and her department could "condemn properties" in Wainfleet, if it has to, to prevent people from being exposed to the contamination.
Williams said the problem in Wainfleet is "complex" because it is hard to draw specific links between which old and leaky septic systems are contaminating which wells on peoples' properties. She said the solution to the Wainfleet contamination problem is "not a property by property solution." It is to expand municipal water and sewer services from Port Colborne to Wainfleet.

Mayor Gord Harry
PHONE: (905) 899-2625

EMAIL: gharry@township.wainfleet.on.ca

Alderman Evan Main
PHONE: (905) 899-2633 or (905) 899-1250
EMAIL: emain@township.wainfleet.on.ca

Alderman Patrick Robson
EMAIL: probson@township.wainfleet.on.ca

Alderwoman Barbara Henderson
PHONE: (905) 386-0977
EMAIL: bhenderson@township.wainfleet.on.ca


Alderman Rudy Warkentin
PHONE: (905) 899-1358
EMAIL: rwarkentin@township.wainfleet.on.ca



MPP -ERIE-LINCOLN
TIM HUDAK , MPP
PHONE: (905) 382-0322
FAX : (905) 382-0315
EMAIL: timhudak@niagara.net



MPP JOHN MALONEY
PHONE: (905) 788-2204
FAX : (905) 788-0071
EMAIL: malonj@parl.gc.ca



PROJECT MANAGER , Regional Niagara
BOB STEELE
EMAIL: bob.steele@regional.niagara.on.ca

 
They are listening and know we aren't going away!
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