While it is disappointing that the Town of Lake Cowichan did not get the money it asked for to upgrade its waste water treatment plant, there is no doubt that the town’s drinking water needs to be the first priority.
If the town gets the grant it has applied for to upgrade its water treatment plant and put an end to the numerous boil water advisories that have been plaguing residents it will be a big, and important win.
The spectre of Walkerton, Ont., where people died in 2000 from contaminated drinking water — something most of us consider to be a problem reserved for countries in the Third World — continues to haunt Canadian communities across the country.
Like Lake Cowichan, many have found deficiencies in their water systems, or those systems are simply getting old and are in need of repair.
Having to boil water for drinking and other household uses is certainly inconvenient, and one cannot help but be concerned about people missing a notice when it comes out, or running out of bottled and boiled water at some point and just deciding a little bit can’t hurt, thereby risking their health.
Water can seem so innocuous, but anybody who’s ever gotten an illness from imbibing a bit of H2O in a tropical destination knows just what it can carry.
The cleanliness, or lack thereof, of the water to be used for sporting events at the upcoming summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in August is a huge concern for athletes who are going to be competing at the venues that locals have long use as sewer and garbage dump.
It already promises to be one of the biggest stories of the Games, and not in a good way. There have even been some rumbling about some athletes pulling out, for fear of getting ill.
Nothing is more vital to a community than its drinking water. Safe drinking water in a foundation stone that needs constant monitoring and attention.
The waste water treatment plant is, of course, a vital link in the clean water chain as well, so we hope that in future rounds of infrastructure funding it can get some love as well.
But let’s be able to drink from the tap first without fear.