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Message from:
Bob McKinley
President,
Rural Council
Re:
Regulation #170/03
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A topic which is just now rising to the
level of informed debate deals with Ontario Regulation #170 /03
under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
The regulation is
now in place but implementation has been deferred until the end of
the year.
This regulation strikes at the very heart of rural business and
social structure. It requires that every well used to serve water
to the public will be regulated even when the well in question has
a proven history of safe supply. The regulation applies expressly
to every rural place of worship service club or recreational
facility. Inspectors employed by the Minister of the Environment
enjoy rights of search and seizure on private property without
benefit of a warrant or court order. In other words the civil
liberties of these organizations now rank below those enjoyed by
criminals or terrorists.
Ministerial staff admit that the
financial impact and ability to fund the costs of compliance was
not assessed by it prior to its passage. In many cases the
capital cost or the regular operating costs will force the closure
of business, church halls, day care centres and the like, even
though these facilities have functioned safely for many years in
the past.
To put the costs in some perspective,
here are some stats. The City of Ottawa after amalgamation became
the owner of 103 facilities which rely on well water, many of
these have functioned safely under the supervision of the City
Medical Officer however notwithstanding that history, the City has
now budgeted $1.2 Million for the initial capital cost of
compliance for new treatment facilities. They are also budgeting $
500,000.00 annually for testing and other operating cost. When you
consider the fact that there are many thousands of such wells
across the province you begin to appreciate the scope of the
impact. The program is simply unnecessary and unaffordable.
The Rural Council ,
and many other Rural groups, are now actively engaged in lobbying
the province to reconsider, however public groups ---particularly
churches and service clubs--- need to know more about this issue.