POLITICIAN OR DOCTOR ?

MEDIA RELEASE / APRIL 10 , 2006

Boil Water Advisory Issued for Parts of Wainfleet
NIAGARA REGION, April 10, 2006
– A Boil Water Advisory has been issued by the Niagara Region Public Health Department for all properties in the Township of Wainfleet located in the area south of the Trans Canada Trail (former CN railway), extending to the Lake Erie shoreline.
The advisory takes effect immediately, as significant bacterial contamination continues to exist in the groundwater source for private and communal wells in that area. Individuals drawing their drinking water from a well using this groundwater source are potentially at significant health risk. Properties serviced by the Long Beach private water system or a cistern are excluded from this advisory.
“Based on the increasing evidence regarding the deterioration of the groundwater in the lakeshore community, I can no longer ensure the safety of their water supply through individual monitoring and testing,” said Dr. Robin Williams, Niagara’s Medical Officer of Health. “I cannot be comfortable with leaving residents at this level of risk.” “Issuing a boil water advisory is a significant step, and not one that I take lightly. In light of the increasing hazard posed by the groundwater in that area, the health of those residents has to be my priority, so I am advising property owners in the affected community to boil their water before drinking it or using it for activities where it could be swallowed.”
Residents are strongly advised to bring their water to a boil and then boil it for one full minute (a rolling boil) before using it (or bottled water can be used). This includes water to drink, clean fruit or vegetables, make ice, juice, puddings and other mixes, brush teeth or any activity involving children where they may have the opportunity to drink or swallow the water, such as during bathing. Unless the property is serviced by a properly maintained drinking water system and tests are regularly confirming that the water is free of contaminants, the tap water could make you sick.
Public Health staff will be going door-to-door in the affected community to contact residents, landlords and tenants with respect to the boil water advisory. They will also be available at the Wainfleet Town Centre on Monday, April 10 and Tuesday, April 11 from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Saturday, April 15 from 9 a.m. to noon to answer any questions members of the community may have. As well, residents may call the Public Health Department at 905-688-3762, extension 7335 during regular business hours (Monday – Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.) and on evenings and weekends, may contact Public Health staff through regional dispatch at 905-984-3690. More information can be found on the regional website at
www.regional.niagara.on.ca/wainfleet. The Niagara Region is committed to working with the Township of Wainfleet, as well as the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, towards the development of a long-term community solution to this problem. In the interim, Public Health staff will continue to conduct environmental inspections and ongoing surveillance.
As there are no Niagara Region facilities in the Township of Wainfleet, the Township has made Council Chambers available to improve access to health department officials for its residents.

Contact:
Dan Pilon, Communications
Niagara Region
905-688-3762, ext. 7303 or 1-800-263-7248 or 905-658-3167

IN THE WELLAND TRIBUNE
ARTICLE "WHAT READERS SAY"
WHY THE PANIC TO BOIL THE WATER
APR. 13 ,2006

To the Editor:
RE: WAINFLEET BOIL WATER ADVISORY
We received our “Boil Water” advisory yesterday as did the rest of our Lakeshore neighbours. I also heard about the “Boil Water” advisory on both the radio and television this morning and was a headline at that.
What I am very curious to know is why the “state of panic” all of a sudden?
When the Water/Sewer Pipeline project was first introduced in April 2004 it was quite low key. As a matter of fact I missed the community meeting announcement in the newspaper. Then it was followed up by a 2nd Community Information session in August 2004. This is when our government officials indicated we had a “health emergency” situation (which I have never believed by the way).
If we had a “health emergency” situation 2 years ago why was there no “Boil Water” advisory then?
Much has transpired since the project proposal first reared its ugly head. The cost to each homeowner has escalated from $3,000-$7,000 in April/04 to $19,000 in 08/04 and currently sits at about $31,400. The Wainfleet Township has applied for COMRIF funding twice now and has been turned down both times.
I believe that the residents on the Lakeshore are intelligent enough to have their water tested regularly and to buy drinking water where necessary. Most of the people I know in the city also buy bottled drinking water because the city water does not taste or smell very good.
I have been racking my brain trying to understand many things about this whole “situation”:
Why there has been a 2 YEAR lag time for this “Boil Water” notice?
Maybe it could be that Gord Harry is announcing his candidacy for mayor and now he has to justify this crazy idea that he brought forward to the Niagara Region 2 YEARS ago.
Why would the Township/Region be responsible for our health if our water supplies are privately owned? How could I hold the government accountable for me getting sick from a private well that I own?
I have no possible answers for this.
It was suggested at the Value Analysis Exercise in February 2005 to have a water depot, why is a “Boil Water” advisory only being implemented now over 1 YEAR later?
Maybe it’s not the “emergency health” situation they are making it out to be and now they have to cover themselves in the event of an illness since they have implied there is such.
Who would benefit most from this project?
Maybe the Niagara Region since we will all be paying for water and sewer service, didn’t they just announce a 5% and 15% increase on these services for Port Colborne homeowners? OR maybe it would be those that have large parcels of land on lakeshore road; they would be able to sever them and “get rich”. OR maybe it is the Township who would then get all of that extra tax money from the extra development.
How would we the lakeshore homeowners benefit from this project?
Well, we would have city water and sewer so you wouldn’t have to have your septics pumped out and if the city water ever got contaminated it wouldn’t be our fault anymore.
But then again we would have that $40,000 debt to pay off with the Region at 6% interest over the next 10-20years. AND we will now have a monthly water/sewer bill. AND we could end up having a neighbour building a house next to us at only 6 feet away instead of 40 feet (current bylaw).
Boy, it sure seems pretty evident to me that everyone else except us soon to be “poor lakeshore homeowners” have everything to gain. I feel pretty bitter that we are being used as Mr. Harry’s “pawns” in this political game he is playing. I am also very bitter that I will have to pay $40,000 out of my pocket to help develop the lakeshore, put more tax dollars in the Township’s pocket and ultimately more money in the pocket of the Region.
Mr. Harry I sure am glad you will be challenged in this November’s election. I can’t wait to cast my VOTE IN NOVEMBER.
Feeling Undermined,
Sherry Mayne
Lakeshore Road

IN THE WELLAND TRIBUNE
ARTICLE By GREG FURMINGER, Tribune Staff
APR. 11 ,2006

BOIL WATER IN WAINFLEET
ADVISORY EXPECTED TO BE IN PLACE FOR MONTHS

Residents of Wainfleet’s lakeshore community have been put on high
alert not to use well water for brushing teeth, bathing young children, preparing
food and washing dishes.
A boil water ADVISORY went into effect Monday morning and is expected to remain so
for several months possibly beyond this year unless a cure is found for the area’s
systemic problem of groundwater contamination.
The area affected by the advisory runs the entire 15-kilometre distance between
Haldimand region and the Port Colborne town line, and includes all property between
Lake Erie and the Trans Canada Trail, a former CN railway line that runs parallel to
and just south of Highway 3.
Properties serviced by the Long Beach private communal system, or that have a cistern
supplied with water from an approved source, are excluded from the boil water
advisory.
Wainfleet has no municipal water or sewer services.
Dr. Robin Williams, Niagara’s medical officer of health, said residents, landlords and
tenants of about 1,500 affected properties were notified in writing Monday of the
advisory, which was put into effect based on extensive consultation with a panel of
national, medical and technical experts, and upon advice from Ontario’s chief
medical officer of health, Sheela Basrur.
“It’s not a decision one takes lightly or easily,” Williams said.
“MY FOCUS IS TO MAKE VERY CLEAR THAT THERE’S A SUBSTANTIVE
PROBLEM WITH THE GROUNDWATER.”
Studies conducted by both Niagara’s public health and public works departments
concluded “significant bacterial contamination exists in the groundwater source for
private and communal wells,” said a letter issued by Williams Monday.
Drinking water drawn from a well “could pose a significant health risk,” the letter said.
DESPITE THE PROBLEM BEING KNOWN FOR YEARS, SO FAR THERE HAVE
BEEN NO CLUSTERS OR OUTBREAKS OF ILLNESS LINKED TO WELL WATER,
ONLY “ANECDOTAL REPORTS” FROM A LOCAL FAMILY PHYSICIAN.
WILLIAMS TOLD THE TRIBUNE.
“It’s very difficult to quantify the public health risk.”
Because the problem has been ongoing, Williams said many residents have been
boiling water and taking other precautions for months.
Those precautions include bringing water to a rolling boil for at least one minute then
allowing it to cool before drinking, brushing teeth and washing foods.
Infants and the elderly at greatest risk of illness due to contaminated water.
The boil water advisory is the latest dark cloud to cast a shadow on a Lakeshore
community popular with U.S. cottagers.
“IT’S NOT GOOD,” MAYOR GORD HARRY SAID OF WHAT HE SUSPECTS WILL
BECOME A LONGSTANDING WATER ADVISORY.
Still, Harry said, he supported the region’s move to issue the alert, saying the safety of
residents comes first and foremost.
“They’ve had two or three studies done, THE LAST IN LATE 2005, and they show
THE MAJORITY OF GROUNDWATERS along the lakeshore are polluted,” SAID
HARRY, WHO HAS PREVIOUSLY COME UNDER FIRE FOR COMPARING HIS
TOWNSHIP’S PROBLEMS TO LAST YEAR’S TAINTED-WATER CASE THAT
FORCED THE EVACUATION OF THE CREE RESERVE IN KASHECHEWAN, NEAR
JAMES BAY.
Studies undertaken by Niagara’s health department IN RECENT YEARS have shown as
many as 86 per cent of private sewage systems are failing, polluting the shoreline’s
bedrock aquifer and ultimately contaminating well water, including with nitrates
(carcinogens), fecal viruses and E. coli bacteria. At least 40 per cent of septic area systems are more than 20 years old and histories are
unknown for another 32 per cent.
Bacteria counts as high as 1,000 units per 100 millilitres of water have been detected in
the Wainfleet community. If a count of just one unit is found in municipally-produced water, that would mandate that the system be shut down and a boil water order be issued.
Williams said the health department is continuing to work with the provincial
Environment Ministry and Health Ministry to find a solution to Wainfleet’s shoreline
problem.
The ideal solution from a health perspective, she said, is a proposed sewer and water
pipeline that would tie in to Port Colborne.
That solution has been said to carry a price tag of about $36 million to $70 million.

ARTICLE - FLYER FROM "WWSC" WAINFLEET WATER / SEWER COMMITTEE
APR. 13 ,2006

IN THE WELLAND TRIBUNE
ARTICLE - AUTHOR UNKNOWN
APR. 13 ,2006

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

 
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