“I don’t think we should be asleep on this one,” said Regional District Of Mount Waddington Manager of Operations Patrick Donaghy.
Donaghy was referring to the Ministry of Health initiating a consultation process relating to groundwater-based community systems.
The process involves a series of three guidelines intended to provide direction as to when a system is at risk for pathogen contamination and what actions should be considered to mitigate that risk.
“This could be an initiative to push through treatment, such as chlorination, not only at the wellheads, but the distribution systems,” said Donaghy. “If we have to do that, we’re going to get a fair bit of opposition from our residents,” he said, adding treatment would also be costly.
“We need to keep our eye on this consultation process.”
Donaghy said the regional district should also be proactive and deal immediately with any potential risks to protect its water systems.
The Ministry of Health intends on having a public consultation meeting on this issue on Vancouver Island later this month or early in March. Donaghy plans to attend.
