Residents challenge 'technically insufficient' well investigations in Wilmot

By Lee Griffi

Citizens for Safe Ground Water (CSGW) is raising concerns over what it calls a deteriorating water-security crisis in Wilmot Township.

“As residents face unprecedented water loss and sediment intrusion, CSGW is challenging the Region of Waterloo’s ‘individual-only’ investigation process, labelling it a breakdown in transparency and scientific integrity,” said a press release from the group.

The dispute, according to CWGW president Samantha Lernout, centres on the handling of private well owners’ interference concerns near municipal wells in the Wilmot wellfield.

“Despite 31 identified water-interference-related issues, regional staff have moved to prematurely close files by attributing issues to private mechanical failures, such as pressure tanks, often without ever establishing a proper hydrogeological baseline.”

Lernout explained most of the affected wells are located on Witmer Road, where she lives, as well as Sandhills, Queens and Bleams Roads.

“I can say with confidence 80 per cent of the population in this area has been affected.”

She added the region is attempting to treat a wider-scale crisis as a series of isolated plumbing issues, forcing neighbours into a one-by-one appeal, which is a process that allows the region to unfairly tip the scales.

“This allows the region to function as judge, jury and defendant over our water supply.”

CSGW is calling for greater accountability from the region, including the reinstatement of the well interference committee by replacing the current stalled appeal process with an independent body to ensure transparency and balance. It also wants to shift the burden of proof to the region, where they would have to scientifically prove their pumping is not the cause of interference before closing a file.

A formal motion to restore an independent appeal process was expected to be brought before

regional council by Wilmot Mayor Natasha Salonen at Wednesday’s regular meeting, following the Gazette’s deadline.

“Our experts feel confident these well-interference reports are related to the increase in the region’s pumping. The motion is very good, but the devil will be in the details. We need a well interference committee, that’s our first ask, but the way it’s executed will be very important,” added Lernout.

Should the committee be formed, she said its membership will be critical to its success.

“Will they look at this systematically? Are they going to look at how all these well-interference reports are related? The process going forward will be very important.”

Lernout added a crucial point of contention is the region’s reliance on what she called an outdated "historic compensation area."

“We argue that as municipal pumping increases, the ‘cone of depression’ physically expands. We recommend the creation of an updated dynamic compensation area that increases in size to respond to increased extraction, ensuring that any resident within the actual ‘zone of influence’ receives full protection, regardless of outdated historical boundaries.”

CSGW is also calling for an end to what it calls “secret data.”

“The region monitors this aquifer but keeps the data behind a paywall of FOI requests. There is a need for public disclosure so every resident can see exactly how much water is being taken and how it is affecting the shared water table in real-time,” said Lernout.

The urgency is supported in a letter from the owners of Country Gardens RV Park and Landings Campground. It highlights a 40-year history in which the region’s water taking dried up a local well, only for the fiscal responsibility of the replacement water to be put back onto the local well user.

“History tells us what to expect if the studies are wrong,” said Peter Bingeman, president of

Country Gardens. “We do not want the region to walk away from its responsibility to existing

constituents.”

CSGW is a community advocacy group dedicated to protecting the hydrogeological integrity of the

Waterloo Moraine and ensuring permanent water security for the residents of Wilmot.