Opinion: We need to protect drinking water, not just treat it – Edmonton Journal
June 13, 2017
Our drinking water comes from a kitchen tap — that’s the belief of most Canadians.
And why would we think otherwise? We pay our water bills, as we do our phone and Internet bills, and so we expect a safe and reliable service. And yet, water is a very different service.
Without phone or Internet we are inconvenienced, but without water the human body can survive only a few days. In a municipal-water contamination event local economies are shaken, health services overwhelmed, and public trust in drinking water destroyed. This was the case in Walkerton, Ont., almost 20 years ago, and what have we learned since?
One would think after such a tragedy, seven deaths and over 2,300 illnesses, the collective awareness of our drinking water sources would have increased and more importantly, that local and senior government would have jumped to ensure the protection of our drinking-water sources.
