IT'S JUST ANOTHER GOVERNMENT SCAM FOLKS

The last few weeks I've been poring over the provincially mandated Annual Drinking Water Reports produced by the Region of Waterloo. I have also this year decided to get into the so called Summary Reports. These reports are mandated by both the Safe Drinking Water Act (2002) and Ontario Regulation 170/03. What a pile of pus these reports all are. They are long, labourious, illogical and completely user unfriendly. If the intent was to further consolidate knowledge and power in the hands of the few while placating the many with false visions of empowerment and knowledge; then they have suceeded. I believe that these Annual (DW) Reports are supposed to inform water customers ie. all of us, as to what the quality of our water is. They do not.

Let's fill them with insider acronyms and short forms. That always makes Engineers and Bureaucrats happy. Lat's not explain what any of them mean. Let's pretend that all water quality problems are clearly explained and documented. They are not. Let's not tell consumers when raw water is so contaminated that that is why we've shut the wells down. Let's shut wells down for months and years at a time without explanation. Let's not be overcome with consistency. Just because water quality problems one year required reporting doesn't mean they should for ever more. Let's lobby the Ontario Ministry of the Environment for exceptions, exemptions and regulatory relief if we find the mandatory reporting onerous or even slightly embarassing. If we're caught between a rock and a hard place and desperately need a new or different water source then we should be allowed some wiggle room in regards to the truth. Afterall citizen/consumer confidence in the system is everything. Disasters like Walkerton and Elmira thankfully don't come every day. The important thing is to learn from them so as to avoid any further eroding of confidence. The Bishop st. disaster in Cambridge, courtesy of Northstar Aerospace, is just such an example. The public relations campaign during and after was spectacular. The media finally came under control and didn't pursue this government failure as they did the others.

Full advantage can and should be taken of any and all loopholes in the legislation. If industrial contamination can shut down a huge Aquifer like Elmira's with NDMA, then let's be sure not to publish any results we find for NDMA in our drinking wells. Gas stations are such a nuisance because almost all of them leak eventually. Therefore let's pick but one chemical, say Benzene for example, which has a low drinking water standard. Thus we should safely, hopefully we able to not publish all the other chemicals that are part of gasoline and diesel fuel because their concentrations and drinking standards are much higher. Speaking of drinking water standards there really isn't any need to include them in these reports. More numbers just confuse people. As more and more chemicals are discovered and used in industry we shouldn't have to update our testing. With luck any bad apples out there will discharge at least one of the chemicals on our list so we can discover them and talk about it. Most importantly never advise people of the health threats due to multiple contaminants simultaneously in their drinking water. Also make little or no attempt to actually stop pollution at the source. This could cost governments support and votes from well heeled lobbys. It's always better after cattle crap has killed a couple of seniors via cryptosporidium to call for voluntary farm action to keep cattle out of waterways while spending millions more tax dollars on end of the pipe treatment. Finally let science advance by leaps and bounds but any inconvenient research dealing with drinking water and public health must require decades more research and confirmation prior to reducing contaminant concentrations and costing industry money. The Precautionary Principle is only for socialist countries isn't it? People aren't like land in that we can make more of them if needed. So far that is.