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http://www.canoe.ca/LondonNews/lf.lf-01-18-0001.html

Thursday, January 18, 2001
Canada's water gets poor grades

By JONATHAN SHER, Free Press Reporter
  Another Walkerton tragedy looms in Canadian taps despite a deluge of
rules in Ontario since last year's E. coli outbreak, a report warns.

The deadly outbreak last May killed seven, sickened 2,300, and pushed
the Ontario government to pass regulations that vaulted the province
from a near-failing grade to tops in Canada when it comes to drinking
water, a report written by the Sierra Legal Defence Fund says.

But Queen's Park officials get an incomplete grade at best from those in
Walkerton who survived Canada's worst tainted water outbreak.

The report, called Waterproof: Canada's Drinking Water Report Card,
grades provinces on a number of factors, including how well they:

- Protect sources of drinking water.

- Test and treat water.

- Inform the public about water quality.

New rules won't protect anyone if the province doesn't enforce them,
said Bruce Davidson, spokesperson for the Concerned Walkerton Citizens
group.

"It's like having a radar gun without police," he said.

Ontario's track record for enforcement is poor, Davidson said. Testimony
at the inquiry showed officials with the public utilities commission
breaking rules for 20 years without being caught.

Elsewhere in Canada the outlook is bleak. According to the Sierra
report, no province earned higher than a B (Ontario's grade), many
hovering just above failing.

"In the absence of a comprehensive, cross-country approach to protecting
drinking water, more tragedies almost certainly await us," says the
report, to be released today but obtained earlier by The Free Press.

When it comes to drinking water, Canada lags far behind the United
States and even behind its own guidelines. Only Alberta, Quebec and Nova
Scotia have adopted as standards Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water.

"To avoid future disease outbreaks, these deficiencies must be
remedied," the report states.

Canada must spend more to upgrade aging water systems, but the opposite
is happening, the report contends. Provincial governments have passed
the responsibility for clean water to municipalities, which then turn to
private companies that aren't accountable to the public.

Ontario officials have made strides to improve regulations but, prior to
Walkerton, would have received a D, the report says.

Even with those improvements, some of which won't be in place until next
year, Ontario fails to adequately protect the sources of drinking water
in wells or watersheds, the report says.

The report calls for a national regulatory framework comparable to one
in the United States and recommends:

- Creating mandatory drinking water protection.

- Protecting the source of water in watersheds and wellfields.

- Requiring training and certification for operators of public systems.

- Enacting stringent reporting requirements and right-to-know provisions
for consumers of water.

- Allowing citizens the right to sue jurisdictions that fail to meet
water standards.

- Increasing federal funding to build and repair infrastructure, with
funding contingent on meeting water protection requirements.

Officials believe the outbreak in Walkerton occurred after manure-laden
surface water washed into a well from a nearby farm during a torrential
rainstorm.

CANADA'S WATER REPORT CARD

ALTA. - B

QUE. - B

ONT. PRE-WALKERTON - D

ONT. POST-WALKERTON - B

N.S. - B-

N.W.T. - C

NUN. - C

SASK. - C

MAN. - C-

N.B. - C-

B.C. - D

NFLD. - D

Y.T. - D-

P.E.I. - F