Simcoe County aquifer dispute underscores the need for a national water policy

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/must+stewards+water/1978401/story.html


We must all be stewards of water


A decisive victory has been won for water in Simcoe County, in a struggle that had been brewing for more than 20 years. Dump Site 41, the landfill that was to be built atop the Alliston aquifer this fall, points to major shortcomings in water governance at all levels of government in Canada.

Preliminary work on the dump site was approved in a very close vote in 2007 at Simcoe County council, despite much public opposition. Since then, the artesian spring just under the proposed landfill -- declared by a University of Heidelberg study to contain among the purest water in the world -- was de-watered to allow for construction.

The struggle to protect the watershed that serves several communities and wildlife in Ontario had grown to epic dimensions as national organizations and political figures joined First Nations communities, local farmers and residents to voice their opposition.

On Aug. 25, the councillors of Simcoe County listened to the people who elected them, and voted for a one-year moratorium on Site 41 construction, which may spell the end of the dump entirely. They have begun to see themselves as stewards of the water, and are to be congratulated for this shift in thinking.

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Water is a human right: Water is fundamental to all life and access to safe drinking water and sanitation must be enshrined at all levels of government. This implies that ecological needs must be met in order to protect access to clean drinking water for future generations and this principle must trump all other considerations. In Simcoe County, signs that de-watering and construction activities were affecting water levels and quality in local wells were dismissed by the authorities. Unfortunately, the failure to recognize water as a human right in Canada leaves communities with little recourse when their access to clean drinking water is threatened.

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clean water is a human right