Waterloo Region's Water Crisis Isn't Over

THE 20% SAFETY TARGET HAS BEEN REMOVED

Two weeks ago I wrote about the Region deciding its own pumping wasn't to blame for a single dry well in Wilmot. A lot has happened since, and almost none of it made the front page.

The 20 per cent goal is gone

Back in June I said our water works like a bank account. We deposit rain and snowmelt, we take out what we need, and we keep a cushion for emergencies.

The Region wanted that cushion at 20 per cent. Spare water for a big fire, a burst main, or a well that needs repairs.

We never got there.

So the plan was rewritten. Here is how the Region's own website describes it. The new approach "removes and replaces a 20 per cent operational resiliency target with a more flexible approach."

So the goal wasn't reached. The goal was removed, and what replaced it is the word flexible. In practice that means nobody has to hold back 20 per cent anymore.

It's a bit like setting a savings goal in January and letting it go in March when it turns out to be out of reach. The amount in the account is the same either way. What changed is the line we measure it against.

The new water isn't new water

The Region says the crisis is solved and building can restart. Thirty extra litres per second near Mannheim. Ten flowing now, twenty more by the end of September. Enough for roughly 10,500 people and 5,000 jobs.

That's real work and it counts. The plant couldn't push enough water through before, and now it can.

But it isn't new water. The Region's own website says so plainly: "not a new water source." It's Grand River water, the same water we already drink, cleaned faster by new equipment.

So we can treat more water. We don't have more water.

Building restarts too, though not quite the way it sounds. Builders can get permits now, but the Region says occupancy is "deferred until future water supply capacity becomes available." Construction starts. Moving in waits for the water.

Kevin Thomason has been sitting in regional council chambers for thirty years. He points out that not one of the seven fixes community groups have been asking for has actually been used.

Wilmot is paying for it

While the rest of us read headlines about the crisis being solved, Wilmot was learning something else.

The Community Edition dug into what's been going on out there, and two things stood out.

The first is that the Region had been taking 30 litres per second above the agreed limit from Wilmot's aquifers, and had been doing it since 2019. Not this summer. Seven years.

The second is what happens when a well does go dry. A new deep one costs $30,000 to $60,000. The Region has offered affected owners $4,000. To take it, you sign away the right to claim anything more later.

On July 14 the Region held a session on how these complaints get judged. Residents asked for an independent study of how our aquifers are really doing, ongoing monitoring, all the data made public, and a permanent policy written with them in the room instead of about them. That policy goes to Regional Council on August 12.

One correction from me

In June I called the Waterloo Moraine Protection Act a bill. It's a motion, tabled by Kitchener Centre MPP Aislinn Clancy on June 2. A motion is a request to the government. A law is a rule it has to follow. Right now the moraine that filters our drinking water has a request.

Two dates, and what you can actually do

July 27, 6pm. Wilmot votes on its plan for the next 30 years, at 60 Snyder's Road in Baden. These plans decide what gets protected for decades, and the water protections in them vary a lot. You can read the current draft at engagewr.ca/new-wilmot-official-plan, and the meeting is open if you'd like to sit in. To have your say in writing, all of Wilmot's councillors are reachable at [email protected]. Copy [email protected] and your note becomes part of the public record.

August 12. Regional Council decides who investigates when a well runs dry. Right now that's the Region looking into its own pumping. If you think that call should be made by someone independent, now is when to say so. Every regional councillor and mayor can be reached at one address: [email protected]. You can follow the policy work here.

A short, personal note about your own tap always lands harder than a form letter.

On a well in Wilmot?

Watch for sudden drops in pressure, cloudy water, or grit in the taps. Call the Region's 24/7 line at 519-575-4400. Then email Citizens for Safe Groundwater at [email protected] so your story gets counted twice.

The tap still works. That's the easiest thing in the world to take for granted, right up until it isn't.

written with love by,
your friendly neighbourhood goose