Callander fights for residents' wells
Funds to test your well could be drying up.
Ontario’s auditor suggested the government phases-out free well water testing, but Callander’s councillors want the tap to remain open, so are writing letters to provincial ministers, including Vic Fedeli, to urge them to uphold the status-quo.
Callander’s municipal staff detailed how the first steps to phase-out the testing were released in the 2023 Ontario Auditor’s Report. Staff, quoting the report in a memo to council, detailed “that some regional laboratory sites are unable to perform a large proportion of the tests on the samples and specimens they receive.”
In 2017, recommendations were made to consolidate some of these sites. Public Health Ontario “proposed a joint modernization plan to update its public health laboratory,” which is still under consideration.
If consolidated, six of the 11 labs would be closed – Hamilton, Kingston, Orillia, Peterborough, Sault Ste. Marie, and Timmis. Closing these labs would result in “the gradual discontinuation of private drinking water testing,” staff noted.
There are around 875 wells in Callander and given that the cost to get your water tested is $150 each time, and it’s recommended to test in the spring and fall, that’s $300 per well-wishing resident. Add it up and you’re looking at $262,500 in annual water tests, paid by residents.
Councillor Jordy Carr called the proposed plan to cut the funding “atrocious.”
Staff mentioned that if the cost is shouldered solely by the well owner, some folks may not be so inclined to test regularly. This “could result in health issues with those individuals using the water,” Callander’s Senior Municipal Director, Ashley Bilodeau’s report explained.
“Maintaining a free opportunity to test water, which is what our rural residents have come to expect, is in the best interest of our rural taxpayers,” Bilodeau concluded.
Council agreed, and the letters shall be sent.
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
David Briggs, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, BayToday.ca
