WAINFLEET WATER and SEWER COMMITTEE



ARTICLES AFTER MAY 1ST , 2006



from THE WELLAND TRIBUNE
By ALLAN BENNER ,MAY 30 , 2006
CAMPERS LEFT DRY

WAINFLEET - Campers at Long Beach Conservation Area started the season without running water, after plans to upgrade the park’s water treatment facility turned out to be a little more complicated than anticipated.
Dave Drobitch, superintendent of the park owned by the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, said the work, which began last year, was being done to bring the park’s 40-year-old water system in line with provincial regulations.
The work was expected to be done long before the park opened on the Victoria Day weekend.
But when the power lines supplying electricity to the pumps were inspected by an electrical engineer they were badly outdated, and needed to be replaced.
“Some of that wiring dates back to 1968, 1965 as far as I can figure,” Drobitch said.
And it no longer meets building codes.
“The electrical inspector told us we have to upgrade our main power supply going into the park and servicing our water plant,” he said. “It threw off our plans a little bit... But we want to make sure that old electrical is brought up to code and it’s safe. That’s our main concern.”
The lack of running water has caused concern for some campers including one who sent an e-mail to The Tribune last week.
“I believe that with everyday that goes by without running water, we should be refunded a portion of our fees on a daily basis,” says the e-mail, signed “A very unhappy camper.”
Drobitch said the lack of water has “been inconvenient for folks.”
Although the NPCA has opened the park to the seasonal campers, he said other campers are being accommodated at Chippawa Creek Conservation Area.
“We haven’t had to turn anyone away,” he said.
The NPCA brought in some portable washrooms to use until the water system is running again, and they’ve been supplying campers with “trucked in municipal water.”
The work is getting very close to completion. In fact, he said they’ve already run some tests.
Although campers were warned that the water flowing during the tests is not suitable for drinking, they were still happy to see the progress.
“There was a big cheer when people saw the water flowing,” Drobitch recalled. “They can’t drink it and they darn well know it, but they’re happy to see something flowing.”
He said seasonal campers are already getting a good deal at the park. They’re essentially paying for 83 nights of camping, and they’re getting 130 nights.
“It’s based primarily on our peak season,” he said.
Still, he said they’re considering additional ways of compensating seasonal campers for the inconvenience they’ve had to endure.
Drobitch couldn’t predict when the work would be complete because of any unforeseen problems they might encounter. “It’s almost day-to-day,” he said.
During his career Drobitch has been involved in the installation of six water plants, and based on that experience, he said “it’s never as easy as it seems.”
The water problems Long Beach campers are dealing with are not related to the contaminated groundwater problems that have plagued homes along Wainfleet lake shore.
“WE’RE TOTALLY SEPARATE FROM ANY OF THAT OTHER WATER BUSINESS OUT IN WAINFLEET.”



IN THE NIAGARA THIS WEEK / THE LEADER
JUNE 14 , 2006
BETTY GOES PROVINCIAL
ARTICLE by MIKE STURMAN

MOE


IN THE NIAGARA THIS WEEK / THE LEADER
MAY 24 , 2006
BETTY’S SMOKING GUN
ARTICLE by MIKE STURMAN

GUNS

PIC

GUN




IN THE NIAGARA THIS WEEK / THELEADER
MAY 24 , 2006
SUPRISE , COULDN'T HAPPEN TO US ? ? ?
ARTICLE by MIKE STURMAN

SURP



printed in THE WELLAND TRIBUNE
NO SMOKING GUN , MAY 17 , 2006
ARTICLE BY ANDRE GERMAIN

Re. "Water Woes":
Your reporter, Mattthew Van Dongen, paints the emotional picture of "children building castles in the sand... sewage saturated sand - maybe from a long-forgotten pipe or an ancient septic bed."
Well, as any resident who has lived here for more than a few years and has walked the sand beaches of this and other communities along Lake Erie can attest, in the late spring and early summer, algae start to grow and then when the lake gets stormy and rough, the algae get swept onto beaches and lay there in the shallow water and rot, turning oily-black and smelly and getting churned into the sand in the shallows.
And as the lake goes into a low-water cycle, as it has the last few years, that oily mass of decomposed algae now lies below the sand on the beach. And even though Mayor Harry would have everybody believe that our septic systems are responsible for all those algae in Lake Erie, that just is not the case.
"Kate Ostryhon-Lumsden has seen the stuff pooled in ditches".
Well, those ditches are the ones that drain the cow and pig farms and golf courses. They also drain the roads which get heavily salted in the winter. After a heavy rain, hundreds if not thousands of gallons per minute flow into the lake at the bottom of Sunset Bay from a 4' culvert, water from ditches that run either side of Golf Course Rd., runoff from farms and a golf course, runoff containing who knows what fertilisers and pesticides and weed-killers and effluent from the livestock farms. Water rich in "nutrients" on which algae feed. And that is only one culvert of many. In fact, the township just added another culvert last week under Churchhill St., at the bottom of our bay, draining directly into Lake Erie.
But Michael Benner and Kate Ostryhon-Lumsden immediately jump to the conclusion that "faulty septic systems" are at fault, with no proof whatsoever and Van Dongen writes up these suppositions as "fact", again with no substantiation.
I wish your reporter were more diligent in ascertaining his "facts" before going to print.
It may be true that some of the wells out here are contaminated but it still has yet to be proved that the septic systems are causing that contamination, regardless of the fact that some of them may be old and on undersized lots.
Again I point out that when the wells were tested, no core samples were taken from the ground surrounding the wells to ascertain if that soil contained the same pathogens found in the well water.
Having a "smoking gun" and a dead body in the same vicinity is no proof that the gun is the murder weapon or that a murder even occured.
André Germain
12 L 35 Harbourview Rd.
Pt. Colborne



from THE WELLAND TRIBUNE
By MARK TAYTI, Tribune Staff ,MAY 19 , 2006
FINALLY
LOOKING AT OPTIONS

THOROLD - Wainfleet Mayor Gord Harry alerted the public works committee to a “dilemma” that is now facing his municipal council with respect to the next round of COMRIF applications.
Harry’s comments followed those of Chado Brcic, director of water and wastewater services at the region, who took time Wednesday to update the committee on where the region is headed concerning outstanding water issues in Wainfleet.
Brcic said the region is now looking at options to address water and wastewater issues, given that no upper-tier funding has been awarded in the second round of the Canada Ontario Municipal Rural Infrastructure Funding (COMRIF) grants.
“I guess township council has a dilemma,” Harry said. “The debate is whether the township should apply for the next round of COMRIF.”
Harry said the application for funding to run water and sewer lines along the lakeshore scored high with the government, except in the area of “value for money.”
“My council has other projects they are looking at,” he said. “I’m not saying they are more important. I’m just saying they want to look at other projects.”
Harry said he has also heard there is only $60 million left in the COMRIF fund.
“If we don’t apply for COMRIF, we may be sending a message that (water issues) are not important.”
Harry also raised the possibility of alternate means of funding water and sewer infrastructure projects along the lakeshore.
“We are looking for help and assistance,” he said.
Brcic was not specific about what can be done to mitigate any water or wastewater issues in Wainfleet, but he assured the committee that his department was developing a plan to address the recent “boil water” advisory.
St. Catharines Mayor Tim Rigby, chair of the committee, was sympathetic to Harry’s comments.
Rigby said the problems facing the residents of Wainfleet impact on all of Niagara.
“I certainly can understand your council’s dilemma,” he said.
Thorold Mayor Robin Brock asked what consideration had been given to “holding tanks” and other mitigating strategies.
Brcic said all the available options are being considered. A report is due back before the committee in June, he added.



from THE ST. CATHARINES STANDARD
MAY 16 , 2006

WHO WILL FOOT THE BILL?
BY TIFFANY MAYER AND MATTHEW VAN DONGEN
MONDAY, MAY 15, 2006 - 01:00

PROVINCIAL MONEY WOULD FLOW TOMORROW IF SOMEBODY DIED FROM DRINKING WAINFLEET’S WATER.
IT SOUNDS HARSH, BUT THAT’S THE BLEAK VIEW FROM GORD HARRY’S SEWAGE-SATURATED STANDPOINT.
“THEY WOULD FIND SOME SORT OF FUNDING, FROM SOMEWHERE,” SAID WAINFLEET’S MAYOR.
BUT FOR NOW, NO ONE APPEARS WILLING TO FOOT THE BILL TO RESCUE THE RURAL TOWNSHIP’S BACTERIA-RIDDEN LAKESHORE.
SEPTIC SYSTEMS ARE FAILING. E. COLI IS LURKING IN WELL WATER UP AND DOWN THE LAKE ERIE SHORELINE. LOCAL POLITICIANS ARE SEEKING BIG MONEY FOR BIG SEWER AND WATER PIPES TO SOLVE THE SMELLY SCENARIO.
THEY’RE ASKING UPPER LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT FOR $31.7 MILLION TOWARDS THE $65-MILLION PRICE TAG.
SO FAR, THEY’RE GETTING ZERO.
TWICE THEY’VE APPLIED FOR JOINT PROVINCIAL-FEDERAL MONEY. TWICE THEY’VE BEEN TURNED DOWN.
OFFICIALS WITH THE CANADA-ONTARIO MUNICIPAL RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE FUND SAY THERE JUST ISN’T ENOUGH MONEY IN THE $900-MILLION POT FOR ALL THE GREAT PROJECTS OUT THERE.
“MY OWN PERSONAL OPINION IS THAT ($31.7 MILLION) IS A LOT OF MONEY, POLITICALLY, FOR 1,200 HOMES,” SAID HARRY, WHO IS FEELING POLITICAL HEAT ON THE HOME FRONT FOR THE STANDOFF.
“THEY KNOW DARN WELL (OUR SITUATION) IS BAD.”
THAT DOESN’T APPEAR TO BE IN DOUBT.
A CANADIAN PANEL OF HEALTH EXPERTS ADVISED NIAGARA’S MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH, DR. ROBIN WILLIAMS, TO CALL A BOIL WATER ADVISORY IN APRIL.
THE LATEST SURVEY SHOWS 68 PER CENT OF EXAMINED WELLS ARE CONTAMINATED WITH COLIFORM. A THIRD SHOW UNSAFE LEVELS OF THE DEADLIEST BACTERIA, E. COLI.
WILLIAMS CALLS THE SITUATION “SERIOUS.”
SOME LOCAL POLITICIANS HAVE GONE A STEP FURTHER.
IN A LETTER TO PROVINCIAL AND FEDERAL CABINET MINISTERS, HARRY SAID WAINFLEET IS “DESTINED TO THE SAME FATE” AS KASHECHEWAN, THE JAMES BAY CREE RESERVE EVACUATED EARLIER THIS YEAR BECAUSE OF SEVERE WATER CONTAMINATION.
THOROLD MAYOR ROBIN BROCK COMPARED THE SITUATION TO THE WALKERTON WATER TRAGEDY, WARNING “A CRISIS IS WAITING TO OCCUR.”
ALTHOUGH MANY RESIDENTS SCOFF AT SUCH DIRE PREDICTIONS, MOST AGREE THERE’S A PROBLEM THAT NEEDS FIXING.
THE QUESTION IS, WHO SHOULD DO IT. THE PROVINCE MAINTAINS THAT WATER AND SEWAGE ARE MUNICIPAL RESPONSIBILITIES.
HARRY DOESN’T DISAGREE. THE MAYOR BROUGHT THE ISSUE TO NIAGARA REGION’S ATTENTION IN 2001 AND BOTH LEVELS OF MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT ARE RESIGNED TO PAYING HEAVILY FOR A SOLUTION FINANCIALLY AND POLITICALLY.
BUT WAINFLEET ONLY BOASTS 6,500 TAXPAYERS ON A GOOD DAY. THE TOWNSHIP BUDGET IS $3 MILLION. IT GOT ITS FIRST TRAFFIC LIGHT IN 2003.
THE PRICE OF A FIX IS WELL BEYOND WAINFLEET’S REACH.
“THE PROVINCE SETS THE STANDARDS FOR CLEAN WATER, FOR DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE. THAT MEANS THEY HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO HELP FUND THEM AS WELL,” SAID TIM HUDAK, ERIE-LINCOLN MPP AND A MINISTER IN THE FORMER PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT IN POWER DURING THE WALKERTON CRISIS.
HUDAK SAID HIS GOVERNMENT OFFERED $7 MILLION TOWARDS THE WAINFLEET PROJECT. THE LIBERALS SHOULD STEP UP, TOO.
“NOW THAT COMRIF HAS REJECTED THEM TWICE, THE BALL IS IN THE REGION’S AND THE PROVINCE’S COURT. THEY HAVE TO COME UP WITH A PLAN B.”
PROVINCIALLY, THE MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT HAS A MANDATE TO PROTECT THE PROVINCE’S GROUND WATER AND HUMAN HEALTH.
THAT DOESN’T INCLUDE ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY OVER PRIVATE WELLS OR SEPTIC BEDS, HOWEVER.
STILL, THE MINISTRY IS WORKING WITH LOCAL OFFICIALS TO FIND “SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM CONTINGENCY PLANS,” SAID ENVIRONMENT MINISTER LAUREL BROTEN.
IT WON’T BE EASY. LOCAL OFFICIALS MET WITH MINISTRY STAFF A WEEK AGO IN HAMILTON TO BRAINSTORM SOLUTIONS, BUT DIDN’T COME AWAY WITH ANY CONCRETE IDEAS.
BROTEN SAID THE PROPOSED CLEAN WATER ACT COULD PROVIDE “NEW TOOLS” TO DEAL WITH THE PROBLEMS FACING MUNICIPALITIES LIKE WAINFLEET.
IN PARTICULAR, THE ACT IS MEANT TO:
MAKE IT EASIER FOR THE REGION TO DO MORE SEPTIC SYSTEM INSPECTIONS;
REQUIRE MUNICIPALITIES TO TRACK POTENTIAL GROUNDWATER THREATS;
CREATE A “HARDSHIP FUND” FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS FACING BIG THREATS;
“WE WANT TO MAKE FUNDING AVAILABLE TO ASSIST WITH THE MANAGEMENT OF RISK,” SAID BROTEN.
THE MINISTRY ALSO ANNOUNCED $375,000 IN APRIL FOR A CAMPAIGN TO EDUCATE WELL OWNERS ABOUT HOW TO PREVENT CONTAMINATION OF THEIR DRINKING WATER SUPPLY.
IT’S ABOUT 60 YEARS TOO LATE TO FIX WAINFLEET’S WATER THROUGH EDUCATION, HOWEVER.
THE ENVIRONMENT MINISTRY MUST ALSO APPROVE THE REGION’S ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF THE PROPOSED PIPELINE SOLUTION OR ORDER A MORE COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT, AS SOME RESIDENTS ARE REQUESTING.
BROTEN WILL MAKE THAT DECISION SHE HASN’T YET, SHE SAID BUT SHE CAN’T HAND WAINFLEET MILLIONS IN CASH.
FUNDING PROGRAMS LIKE COMRIF ARE DESIGNED TO PAY FOR THE INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS OF SMALL COMMUNITIES.
“THERE’S GOT TO BE A PROGRAM. YOU CAN’T JUST SNAP YOUR FINGERS AND HAVE MONEY ARRIVE,” SAID WILSON LEE, SPOKESMAN FOR THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE RENEWAL.
WAINFLEET DIDN’T MAKE COMRIF’S CUT. NOR DID 251 OTHER MUNICIPALITIES, SAID AGRICULTURE MINISTER LEONA DOMBROWSKY, ONE OF THE LEAD MINISTERS FOR THE PROGRAM.
DOMBROWSKY WOULDN’T TALK ABOUT WAINFLEET’S SPECIFIC APPLICATION, BUT SAID THERE SIMPLY WASN’T ENOUGH MONEY TO GO AROUND.
SHE DID SAY THE TOWNSHIP CAN APPLY FOR THE THIRD ROUND OF COMRIF MONEY.
BUT THERE ARE NO GUARANTEES, SAID THE MINISTER, AND PROVIDING WATER “IS A MUNICIPAL RESPONSIBILITY.”
“THERE ARE OTHER COMMUNITIES BEFORE COMRIF WAS IN PLACE, THROUGH THEIR WATER BOARDS, (THAT) WOULD HAVE BORROWED MONEY TO MAKE INVESTMENTS TO PROVIDE SAFE WATER,” DOMBROWSKY SAID.
“SOME MUNICIPALITIES ... HAVE DONE A FULL-COST RECOVERY EXERCISE AND THEY HAVE INCREASED WATER RATES. THERE ARE A RANGE OF OPTIONS OUT THERE.”
LEE SAID ONE OF THOSE OPTIONS IS A LOW-COST LOAN PROGRAM, THE ONTARIO STRATEGIC INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCING AUTHORITY, WHICH IS OFTEN “INVOLVED IN THE WATER SECTOR.”
INDUSTRY CANADA SPOKESMAN SAM BOONSTRA ADDED THE RECENT FEDERAL BUDGET HAS MONEY TO EITHER EXTEND THE COMRIF PROGRAM OR CREATE A NEW ONE “IN THE SPIRIT OF COMRIF.”
WAINFLEET OFFICIALS DIDN’T APPLY TO THE LOAN PROGRAM BECAUSE THEY WERE WAITING FOR COMRIF. THE MAYOR SAID IT’S AN OPTION THAT WILL HAVE TO BE DISCUSSED NOW.
IN THE MEANTIME, NO HELP IS FORTHCOMING AND HARRY WONDERS WHAT’S NEXT.
“WHAT I’M SAYING TO THE REGION NOW IS THAT IT’S TIME TO MAKE SOME DECISIONS. WHAT’S OPTION B?” HARRY SAID.
THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH HAS SAID ORDERING PEOPLE TO FIX SYSTEMS ONE BY ONE IS NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE.
BUT HARRY ISN’T SURE WHAT OTHER OPTIONS EXIST.
“MAYBE THAT’S THE NEXT STEP. MAYBE YOU GO UP AND DOWN THE LAKESHORE AND, IF YOU CAN’T FIX IT, LOCK THE DOORS,” HE SAID.
ULTIMATELY, THE REGION WILL HAVE TO DECIDE WHAT’S NEXT, SAID ST. CATHARINES MAYOR AND REGIONAL COUNCILLOR TIM RIGBY.
THAT COULD MEAN GOING IT ALONE WITH THE PIPELINE AN EYE-POPPINGLY EXPENSIVE POSSIBILITY FOR RESIDENTS.
“I THINK IT’S OUR RESPONSIBILITY. IF IT’S SOMETHING WE HAVE TO DO, WE’LL HAVE TO GO AHEAD WITH IT,” RIGBY SAID.
“MY OPINION, FRANKLY, IS WE SHOULD BE PUTTING IN JUST THE WASTE SYSTEM BECAUSE THEY ARE PRIMARILY COTTAGES.... EVENTUALLY, NATURE WILL CLEAN UP.”
THE REGION, HE NOTED, MAY HAVE TO CHANGE ITS TACTICS IF IT’S GOING TO GET ANY HELP FINANCIALLY.
“WE HAVE THE COMMITMENT OF THE PROVINCE AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO IMPROVE THE WATER IN THE GREAT LAKES BASIN AND THIS IS IN THE GREAT LAKES BASIN,” RIGBY SAID.
“I BELIEVE THERE WOULD BE STRONG LOBBYING TO THE GOVERNMENT THAT THIS CAN’T BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE.”
BUT FOR NOW, IT WILL. SEPTIC TANKS WILL CONTINUE LEAKING. WATER WILL REMAIN UNSAFE TO DRINK. AND TOURISTS SOME UNFAMILIAR WITH THE CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE TO FLOOD THE AREA, STARTING THIS MAY LONG WEEKEND.
THE PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT WILL VISIT THE AREA AGAIN THIS WEEK TO SPREAD THE BOIL-WATER MESSAGE AND ANSWER QUESTIONS.
HOWEVER, THERE’S ONE QUESTION THAT NO ONE CAN ANSWER YET.
“PEOPLE KEEP ASKING ME WHEN THE BOIL WATER WILL BE LIFTED,” SAID HARRY.
“I HAVE TO TELL THEM I DON’T THINK IT’S EVER GOING TO BE LIFTED UNLESS WE CLEAN UP THE AQUIFER.”
THIS THREE-PART SERIES EXPLORES THE WAINFLEET WATER PROBLEM.
ON FRIDAY, THE STANDARD EXAMINED THE SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM.
NIAGARA REGION IS PUSHING A FIX FOR THE BACTERIA-RIDDEN WATER. ON SATURDAY, THE STANDARD EXPLORED WHY THE PROPOSED SOLUTION, AND NOT THE WATER, IS MAKING MOST PEOPLE SICK.
WAINFLEET AND THE REGION DON’T HAVE THE CASH TO FIX THE TOWNSHIP’S SEWAGE WOES. NO OTHER LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT IS OFFERING TO HELP. TODAY, THE STANDARD LOOKS AT WHO SHOULD FIX THE SMELLY PROBLEM.


WAINFLEET WATER HAZARD , MAY 13, 2006 , 2006
ARTICLE BY TIFFANY MAYER
THIRST FOR ANSWERS

ARTICLE FROM MAY 13 , 2006 ONE


TWO


THREE




from THE ST. CATHARINES STANDARD
also printed in THE WELLAND TRIBUNE


WATER WOES , MAY 12, 2006 , 2006
ARTICLE BY Matthew Van Dongen

Children building castles in the sand.
Sure, it’s dirty. But as far as parents are concerned, it’s also good, clean fun for kids at the beach.
Unless, as little hands dig down deep, the muddy water starts to turn black. And the smell starts to turn stomachs.
Sewage-saturated sand maybe from a long-forgotten pipe or an ancient septic bed. It’s an upsetting thought for parents. For anyone.
Even more so for Michael Benner, clerk and planner for the Township of Wainfleet.
The father of two young daughters listened in disbelief when an upset cottager told him the revolting scenario had already played out on his favourite stretch of Lake Erie shoreline.
The longtime cottager was playing with his grandkids last summer on a private beach along Morgan’s Point.
They made sandcastles. They dug a wonderfully deep moat. They were horrified.
“It worries me as a father, as an uncle with two nieces who live down there, as a resident,” said Benner, who urged the reluctant cottager to call the public health department.
“I’m worried about people getting sick.”
No one has ever made a smelly discovery on public beaches in Wainfleet, Benner quickly notes.
But Port Colborne’s rural neighbour is battling a sewage problem that runs deeper than a sandy surprise.
Kate Ostryhon-Lumsden has seen the stuff pooled in ditches. Gagged at the smell of dribbling runoff pipes after a rain near her waterfront property on Belleview Beach Road.
Cleaned it off her friendly yellow lab, Abby.
“When she gets into the ditches, she comes out black,” said a rueful Ostryhon-Lumsden. “In the summer, when everyone is down here, you can really smell it. You don’t drink the water.”
And that’s the big problem.
Human sewage is leaking into the groundwater along Wainfleet’s lakeshore.
A lot of sewage.
It’s impossible to track in litres or kilograms, but it comes from hundreds of people. Thousands in the summer tourist season.
The reason?
Normally, about 3,000 residents live along Wainfleet’s 12 kilometres of lakeshore. That number triples in the summer, when tourists pile into several areas of beachfront property already sardine-squeezed with cottages.
Many of those cottages were built on tiny lots, decades before modern septic system regulations. Before good public planning. Before most folks had ever heard of E. coli.
As a result, wastewater is leaching from aging, overwhelmed septic systems, decades past their prime.
It’s leaking out of holding tanks cracked by age or occasionally on the sly by owners seeking a cheaper way to empty the wastewater.
Sometimes it flushes directly into hidden pipes leaking out into roadside ditches. Or just under the innocent-looking sand of private beaches along Lake Erie.
That means wellwater along the lakeshore in Wainfleet, which does not have a municipal water system, is severely contaminated, according to Niagara Region’s public health department.
With bacteria and viruses. With E. coli.
Today, everyone in the province knows that term.
In 2000, seven people died in the midwestern Ontario town of Walkerton after drinking improperly treated municipal water contaminated with the deadly pathogen.
Hundreds more became ill.
Some local politicians, frustrated at a lack of provincial help, have called the Wainfleet situation a Walkerton waiting to happen.
Wainfleet doesn’t have a municipal water system, so that’s not a fair comparison, said Niagara medical officer of health Dr. Robin Williams.
But the area does have bacteria-ridden groundwater that could make people ill, according to Williams. Will make them ill, she thinks, if the problem isn’t fixed.
Williams announced a boil-water advisory in April after consulting with a Canada-wide panel of health experts.
It warns residents not to drink, shower or brush their teeth with unboiled well water.
Residents served by the Long Beach communal water system or using cistern water from an approved source are exempt from the advisory.
Those who ignore the boil water warning risk picking up a host of unpleasant gastrointestinal diseases, said Williams, including giardiasis, shigella and hepatitis A.
If they’re unlucky and encounter E. coli, the consequences range from stomach cramps to death.
The advisory is new; the problem is not pollution started showing up in local wells in the 1960s.
Most longtime residents deal with it by treating their own water or drinking bottled water.
That doesn’t stop the pollution, however, or protect the hundreds of unwitting summer tourists who rent cottages on the lakefront, said Williams.
“I think that the status quo is ever-worsening. This is not going away,” said Williams, who took her boil-water message door-to-door in April.
“It will continue to gradually worsen and with that comes increasing risk of illness Walkerton-type illnesses, up to and including death.”
Some residents dispute the Region’s testing methods and results, but Williams considers the evidence incontrovertible and alarming:
In three studies commissioned by the Region from 2001 to 2005, a majority of tested wells showed dangerous levels of E. coli and total coliform;
many residents treat their water with chlorination systems and ultra-violet light, but a 2002 survey for the Region showed 37 per cent of treatment systems examined still allowed unsafe levels of E. coli.;
a 2005 study for the Region showed two-thirds of septic systems surveyed in the area don’t measure up to the Ontario Building Code;
geological surveys for the Region show the bedrock is cracked and close to the surface in several spots along the lakeshore, making it easier for pollution to enter the groundwater.
Despite those findings, the public health department has never traced a specific, serious illness to Wainfleet’s water contamination problems.
“We have never been aware of a cluster or outbreak,” said Williams. “It’s not like an outbreak that gets into the distribution system like Walkerton where you get a sudden dose that clocks a large number of individuals.”
It’s tough to prove beyond a scientific shadow of a doubt that any one case of sickness is the result of bad wellwater. But that doesn’t mean people aren’t getting sick.
They often wander into Dr. Jeff Remington’s Port Colborne walk-in clinic, especially in the summer.
“I have cottagers and tourists coming in during the summer with gastrointestinal diseases,” said Remington.
The family doctor lives in Wainfleet, not far from what locals call Stinky Bay, an inlet between Morgan’s Point and Long Beach.
Remington thinks it’s a fair bet the water accounts for at least some of the illnesses he sees. He advises his patients to ensure their water is treated properly.
“The groundwater is obviously contaminated,” said Remington. “Just look at the population density. Of course it’s polluted. After a hard rain, you can see the effluent draining down the beach.”
Remington is reluctant to discuss the topic publicly.
He lives in the affected community, and the politics of fixing the problem have enraged many of his neighbours.
The Region and township want to extend sewer and water lines from Port Colborne to service Wainfleet’s lakeshore, at an estimated cost of $65 million.
They’ve asked for joint provincial-federal help to offset the cost to residents.
Last month, they were turned down for the second time.
Residents opposed to the pricey plan and they are legion breathed a sigh of relief and continued pushing for alternatives such as crackdowns on owners of faulty septic systems and private water treatment.
But at least a few residents such as Ostryhon-Lumsden worry those alternatives won’t do the job.
Her family of four uses a $2,000 chlorination system to treat their wellwater. They still don’t drink from the tap, however, or even use the water to cook.
Instead, the family sips through a 18-litre jug of purified water every 2 days.
“There’s always that uncertainty,” she said. “What if our (chlorination) injectors need replacing and we don’t realize it for a day or two?
“It’s not worth the risk.”
Ostryhon-Lumsden isn’t content to drink bottled water and hopes she doesn’t contract hepatitis A from brushing her teeth.
The real estate agent is a member of the Wainfleet public advisory committee looking at the problem and potential fixes.
She wants a solution an affordable one that will allow her to stop worrying about her kids swimming at posted beaches.
About a boil-water advisory that may never be lifted.
About cleaning black, malodorous slime off her dog.
“People say it’s an old problem, so it shouldn’t be my problem,” she said. “But I think the point is it’s a today problem and we need a today solution.”
**with files from Tiffany Mayer
** mvandongen@stcatharinesstandard.ca
This three-part series explores the Wainfleet water problem. In today’s story, The Standard examines the scope of the problem and the health risks.
Niagara Region is pushing a fix for the bacteria-ridden water on Wainfleet’s lakeshore. In Saturday’s story, The Standard finds out why the proposed solution, and not the water, is making most people sick.
Wainfleet and the Region don’t have the cash to fix the township’s sewage woes and no other level of government is offering to help. In Monday’s story, The Standard looks at who should fix the smelly problem.
Contamination By The Numbers
2001 - Regional Long Beach Sanitary Survey (requested by Township of Wainfleet)
A survey of 286 homes found:
Most septic systems were 25 years old or more.
86 per cent of surveyed residential lots had visible or suspected sewage disposal problems.
2002 MacViro Water Well and Septic Survey
A survey of 128 homes found:
Dangerously high E. coli levels in 30 per cent of tested wells.
Dangerously high levels of total coliform in 52 per cent of tested wells.
Around 57 per cent of properties too small for repairs or replacement of failing septic systems.
2005 MacViro Phase II Well Water Quality and Septic Survey
A survey of 107 homes found:
Dangerously high levels of E. coli in 34 per cent of tested wells.
Dangerously high levels of total coliform in 68 per cent of tested wells.
41 per cent had septic systems older than 20 years.
20 per cent of owners didn’t know the age of their septic systems.
21 per cent of septic systems not adequately maintained.
2005 AMEC Onsite Sewage Disposal Study
A study of 1,244 properties found:
92 per cent of lots either have septic beds that don’t meet Ontario Building Code regulations or have inadequate soil conditions to support septic systems and safe wells.
Pathogens: The worst offenders
E. coli Escherichia coli O157:H7, is probably the most harmful pathogen you never want to find in your well water. While other strains of E. coli are harmless, the nastiest strain can cause stomach cramps, diarrhea and in severe cases, kidney failure. When testing for E. coli, the pathogen is measured in colony-forming units per 100 ml (cfu). Anything above zero cfu/100 ml is considered unsafe. In 2002, the E. coli counts in untreated well water ranged from one to 40,000 cfu/100 ml.
Public health agents also test for total coliform, an indicator bacteria. High levels of total coliform mean other harmful pathogens are likely hanging around, too. Anything above zero cfu/100 ml is considered unsafe. In 2002, the counts in untreated water ranged from one to 600,000 cfu/100 ml.
For information on the boil-water advisory or local water safety, call the public health department at 905-688-3762 or 1-888-505-6074, ext. 7335
Sources: http://www.regional.niagara.on.ca/living/health_wellness/wainfleet/ and http://www.regional.niagara.on.ca/living/water/wainfleetwater.aspx
Septic systems are used to treat and dispose of household waste when there is no municipal sewage system. They work by separating wastes into liquids and solids. The solids settle to the bottom of the tank where naturally occurring bacteria begin to break them down into gases and liquids. About half of solid waste is transformed into gas or liquid. The rest becomes sludge.
Liquids accumulate and enter the drainage system through an outflow pipe. They are distributed in a drain field via a series of subsurface pipes. Final treatment occurs here. The soil absorbs and filters the liquid and microbes break down the rest of the waste into harmless material.
Since systems can’t dispose or break down all solids, they need to be pumped out. If systems aren’t emptied frequently enough, solids can enter the pipes leading to and from the tank, causing sewage to back up into the house or the drainage system to fail. Failing systems can contaminate ground and surface waters.
Holding tanks are used when a septic system is not suitable, such as small properties that don’t have room for a septic bed. Unlike a septic system, materials aren’t separated in a holding tank. All wastewater generated by a home is contained in the tank until it can be removed for treatment and disposal. While some septic tanks can go for years without requiring pumping, holding tanks must be emptied more frequently sometimes monthly or even weekly depending on the number of people in a household and their water consumption.
Source: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University


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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