The negative side effects of the Walkerton water contamination incident continue to this day, almost 10 years after seven people died and more than 1,000 people fell sick.
Bruce Davidson, spokesperson for Concerned Walkerton Citizens, spoke to Greater Sudbury and provincial officials on Tuesday, Dec. 8, about the importance of preventing a Walkerton-like disaster in the city.
In May 2000, Walkerton's water supply was contaminated by run-off from a farmer's field.
Davidson said several events conspired together to cause the tragedy, from the cracked well casing, the design which placed the well in a low-lying area, and the heavy rainfall that washed the manure into that low-lying area, into the cracked well, and into the water the people would later drink.
Decades of neglect over water testing and training of staff was the real culprit, he insisted.
“Water is the most important thing we have, and we can't ignore it.”
He said people have to be educated about their responsibility to their local water supply.
Anne Watelet, a professor of geography at Laurentian University, said she appreciated Davidson had emphasized people have to take personal stewardship over how they deal with water even on their own properties.
“If you pour oil from your car down the drains on your property or nearby, it will end up in Ramsey Lake, the drinking water for many in this city.”
Davidson said he believed local citizens must get involved with the current source water protection efforts in the city. Identifying possible threats, such as the CP rail tracks beside Ramsey Lake, is a priority. The rails could be a potential threat to the city's water supply if there was a train derailment.
Nels Conroy, chair of the local drinking water source protection committee, said that the threat of contamination by a rail spill was on the list of threats and would be addressed by the plan, when it is completed in 2012. The committee was set up by the Ontario government to draw up plans that would safeguard the city's water supply into the future.
Conroy said people may balk at having to pay full cost for their home water supply, but that is far cheaper than having the same inadequate system that caused the Walkerton tragedy.
“When you realize that many people had their health impaired and the cost to local businesses of having their town being branded like this, then paying more to ensure clean water is definitely worth it,” he said.
The Greater Sudbury Drinking Water Source Protection Program can be reached at 674-5249.
Recovery
“Some will never recover from ailments, such as as kidney failures,” said Davidson.
He recounted how one youth, formerly very active before the event, had damage to both of his kidneys and his pancreas due to contaminated water.
“To this day, he can barely walk.”
Davidson said that he, his wife, children and neighbours still suffer physical and mental effects from the town-wide E-coli incident.
“Up to 15 per cent of the 5,000 people in my town suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This is what returning soldiers can experience if they have been through traumatic incidents. It can lead to nervous breakdowns and violent behaviour at home,” he said.
Illnesses reported directly after the incident continue to this day, and include high blood pressure, diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome and even arthritis.
Davidson said no one in Walkerton ever imagined such an event could happen in Canada.
“Something like this we thought could happen elsewhere, but in Canada, in Ontario? That is beyond what we could have thought possible.”
“We had 165 citizens undergo testing recently. They averaged 20 points of irritation per person in areas away from where you would think. People had arthritis in their fingers, cardiac problems and visual impairments. You don't know what a cocktail of poisons in water can do to you until you experience it first hand.”
Davidson, a massage therapist, has found that arthritis has prevented him from continuing his business. His wife, a teacher, has severe physical attacks every six weeks, where she is bed ridden for days after collapsing at her work place.
“She told me the pain she experiences makes the labour pains she had bearing our children seem like a picnic.”
His 11-year-old son has recently been diagnosed with gout, a disease rarely seen by doctors today.
((Originally, Nels Conroy, chair of the Greater Sudbury Source Protection Committee, was incorrectly identified as Nels Conway. NorthernLife.ca apologizes for the error.))
