By Theresa McClenaghan and Richard Lindgren
There have been recent reports from various sources about Public Health Ontario’s planned phase out of public access to free bacteriological testing for private water wells. The proposed “gradual discontinuation” of this important testing service was cited in the Auditor General’s 2023 audit report as part of a “streamlining” plan that Public Health Ontario has been developing since 2017.
This is a terrible idea. Basic private well testing is a public health issue. In Ontario, there are approximately 500,000 households whose drinking water comes from their own private wells, which are not subject to the protective provisions of the Clean Water Act or Safe Drinking Water Act.
Ontario municipalities often provide treated drinking water for residents living in major urban areas. Additionally, most of these municipalities are expending important funds on implementing the “multi-barrier” approach to protecting drinking water quality in the province, which is the main lesson learned from the Walkerton tragedy in 2000.
However, these safeguards are not in place for all towns, villages, hamlets, and other locations outside of larger settlement areas. In such places, there is currently only one publicly funded piece of protection in place, and that is the free well water testing to ensure that rural Ontarians are not drinking water containing harmful bacteria such as E. coli.
In his report on the Walkerton tragedy inquiry, Justice O’Connor strongly supported this private water testing system, and he recommended improvements to the province’s regulatory oversight of water well installation and maintenance, which still is overdue in Ontario.
The people most at risk from the misguided proposal to cease testing are the kids of families who cannot afford to pay private labs for analysis of water samples; the extended family and friends who come to visit with no one aware that there may be a bacteriological threat to well water quality; and the public at large through completely preventable increases in drinking waterborne illness and the resulting health care burden. Since the amount of waterborne illness associated with private wells is vastly underestimated, the least that Ontario can do is to ensure that families who do not drink treated municipal water can continue to have their own water well tested for free.
Objections to the planned termination of free private water testing have been raised by environmental groups, public health advocates, and Source Protection Committees established under the Clean Water Act. While Ontario’s Health Minister recently claimed that “no decisions” have been made on whether to proceed with this plan, the current government subsequently voted to reject a motion that called upon the province to continue this important testing program. Nevertheless, days after this vote, the Health Minister then announced that the program would be continued after all:
“We will continue to test the well water in the province of Ontario. We’ve had it for decades. I grew up with it. It is a system that many of us understand the value and importance of in rural Ontario because we lived it every single day. We’re going to continue that process.”
CELA strongly supports this governmental commitment to the continuation of free well water testing by public health laboratories.
At the same time, we are unclear why anyone would initially propose the “gradual termination” of the program, but CELA is pleased that this risky proposal has now been appropriately abandoned by the provincial government. Despite this good news, it is also unclear to CELA how the free water testing will continue to be carried out in a timely and effective manner since almost half of the regional public health laboratories which do this testing are still slated for closure by the provincial government.
Image courtesy of @rcphotostock via Canva.com
Blog: Private Water Testing is a Public Health Issue
By Theresa McClenaghan and Richard Lindgren
There have been recent reports from various sources about Public Health Ontario’s planned phase out of public access to free bacteriological testing for private water wells. The proposed “gradual discontinuation” of this important testing service was cited in the Auditor General’s 2023 audit report as part of a “streamlining” plan that Public Health Ontario has been developing since 2017.
This is a terrible idea. Basic private well testing is a public health issue. In Ontario, there are approximately 500,000 households whose drinking water comes from their own private wells, which are not subject to the protective provisions of the Clean Water Act or Safe Drinking Water Act.
Ontario municipalities often provide treated drinking water for residents living in major urban areas. Additionally, most of these municipalities are expending important funds on implementing the “multi-barrier” approach to protecting drinking water quality in the province, which is the main lesson learned from the Walkerton tragedy in 2000.
However, these safeguards are not in place for all towns, villages, hamlets, and other locations outside of larger settlement areas. In such places, there is currently only one publicly funded piece of protection in place, and that is the free well water testing to ensure that rural Ontarians are not drinking water containing harmful bacteria such as E. coli.
In his report on the Walkerton tragedy inquiry, Justice O’Connor strongly supported this private water testing system, and he recommended improvements to the province’s regulatory oversight of water well installation and maintenance, which still is overdue in Ontario.
The people most at risk from the misguided proposal to cease testing are the kids of families who cannot afford to pay private labs for analysis of water samples; the extended family and friends who come to visit with no one aware that there may be a bacteriological threat to well water quality; and the public at large through completely preventable increases in drinking waterborne illness and the resulting health care burden. Since the amount of waterborne illness associated with private wells is vastly underestimated, the least that Ontario can do is to ensure that families who do not drink treated municipal water can continue to have their own water well tested for free.
Objections to the planned termination of free private water testing have been raised by environmental groups, public health advocates, and Source Protection Committees established under the Clean Water Act. While Ontario’s Health Minister recently claimed that “no decisions” have been made on whether to proceed with this plan, the current government subsequently voted to reject a motion that called upon the province to continue this important testing program. Nevertheless, days after this vote, the Health Minister then announced that the program would be continued after all:
“We will continue to test the well water in the province of Ontario. We’ve had it for decades. I grew up with it. It is a system that many of us understand the value and importance of in rural Ontario because we lived it every single day. We’re going to continue that process.”
CELA strongly supports this governmental commitment to the continuation of free well water testing by public health laboratories.
At the same time, we are unclear why anyone would initially propose the “gradual termination” of the program, but CELA is pleased that this risky proposal has now been appropriately abandoned by the provincial government. Despite this good news, it is also unclear to CELA how the free water testing will continue to be carried out in a timely and effective manner since almost half of the regional public health laboratories which do this testing are still slated for closure by the provincial government.
Image courtesy of @rcphotostock via Canva.com
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