Local Source Water Protection Committee Opposes Provincial Recommended Phase Out of Free Well Water Testing
by Bob Montgomery
A proposal by the province to phase out free well water testing is meeting opposition from Source Water Protection Committees.
Matt Pearson is the Chair of the Ausable Bayfield Maitland Valley Source Protection Committee. He explains the Auditor-General's Office has recommended that the Public Health Office gradually phase out their free testing of well water throughout the province. Right now, if you have a rural property with a well, you can pick up a lab sample bottle at your local municipal office, or the Health Unit, and send it in and the lab will analyze it for you for free. That's generally been going on for several years. “If they gradually discontinue that, that's not good news for people who use that service because I'm sure the only way they'd be able to access it then is to pay for the service and they might have to go to a private lab. So that will probably discourage people from testing their water.” And Pearson says that has prompted them to write a letter to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
Pearson says Source Water Protection is mandated to protect municipal water supplies. So essentially, towns and more urbanized areas. But about fifty percent of the population in our source protection area have private wells. So they don't fall under the mandate or any of the protection that's provided through source water protection. But their staff and their committee of local people are interested in how they can help protect local water supplies too. Pearson says they were given money in their budget to promote working with water supplies outside of their mandate, and it was to deliver education and outreach to private well owners. “Our staff and committee members have been busy over the last eight or ten months trying to run a program to help get people that have rural water supplies interested in testing.”
Pearson says they don't believe it's a good idea to discontinue the program and that's why they wrote the letter to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The letter was also copied to all of the local municipal councils in the area, and the health units, and a couple of ministers in Toronto. Lately, staff and committee members have been conducting Water Wise events in various communities with the help of local service clubs to help make people aware that they're responsible for the quality of their water and give them an easy way to get it tested.
“At this time, the provincial lab is sampling those at no charge, and they get the results back. It's a way of removing some of the barriers for people getting their water tested, it makes it easy for them, it raises their awareness and there's no cost to them.” Pearson says his concern is that if they discontinue free private drinking water testing, it will likely mean less people will get their water tested.
