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Hamilton Spectator
25-05-2025
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Water servicing issues halt Scotland subdivision plan
County of Brant Council ultimately decided to not support a zoning by-law amendment application and draft plan application for a proposed subdivision in Scotland, during their regular Council meeting on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. The approximately 85 acre property in question is currently being farmed and is located along Thirteenth Concession Road, situated just adjacent to an existing subdivision to the southeast. This area of the County is serviced by private infrastructure, and future development will require private well and sanitary. While landowner, Michael Haley, originally proposed a 108-lot subdivision with single detached dwellings, a park, stormwater management, and mixed-used residential commercial blocks back in May of 2024, he has since come back with a revised plan. Denise Landry, a principal planner with Nethery Planning who was retained by the County to assist with reviewing development applications, explained that the new plan now includes a 77-lot subdivision, park, stormwater management blocks and multiple walkways blocks. Landry said that while several key factors of the original proposal have been changed, there are still several things staff are concerned about. 'The hydrogeological report's analytical results for nitrate from the site indicate high levels of nitrate. Where health-related Drinking Water Quality Standards criteria are not met, the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks, recommends against approval of a development based on individual wells; the assessment has identified that the site cannot sustain private wastewater servicing,' she said. 'County staff and peer review consultants still have concerns regarding stormwater management and the one outlet as it proposes to drain overland through private properties which is not permitted.' Landry continued to say that staff had ultimately concluded that despite the application change, the proposed build was not appropriate and did not represent good planning 'as there are significant private servicing concerns that pose risks associated with the protection of water, environment and human health.' Following Landry's presentation, Bob Phillips from J.H. Cohoon Engineering Ltd. and Ruchika Angrish from the Angrish Group, spoke on behalf of the applicant. Angrish explained that they have been working with County staff to address several issues, and that while the quality of the water still remains a concern, there are enhanced treatments they could utilize for potable water and the septic beds. With that in mind, the two were proposing that perhaps the landowner could move ahead with phase one of the development (16 residential lots on private services). 'There are draft conditions that can always address a number of further assessments to satisfy any concerns,' said Angrish. 'We're hoping to get approval on phase one, putting a holding provision on the remaining stages of the subdivision so that additional technical assessments and MESP [Master Environmental Servicing Plan], which can be completed in time to address the balance of the subdivision.' Councillor John Peirce, then asked if they could elaborate on what they were thinking to address the issues with the water. Phillips said that from a septic point of view, there are systems that exist which can reduce the nitrates in the effluent into the septic bed. 'Theoretically, you can reduce that significantly, but obviously, we're facing the impacts of the farming activities that have happened over the years on the property. What we're proposing is these systems, which are totally approved under the Ontario Building Code, reduce nitrates in the effluent; theoretically, you take water out of the groundwater, use it through your home, treat it and put it back into the septic system, and it's actually better than the groundwater that's there today…that's the theory there,' he said. 'Obviously there's the other aspect of this where you have to treat the water for use in the home. Those are fairly simple systems to eliminate the nitrates in the water that's used in the home, and that's what's being proposed here.' Andrea Bazzard, the County's Director of Environmental Services, clarified that there were two main concerns with development even for just phase one. 'The first concern here is reliable safe drinking water for the development; four out five wells that were drilled on this site, exceeded the drinking water quality standard for nitrates of 10 milligrams per litre. The province is extremely clear that when it comes to health related parameters, they do not recommend private treatment systems and the reason for that is because the risk acute to human health when consuming this water is too high,' said Bazzard. '….The second part of the conversation here is private sewage treatment. This development, as it stands, has high nitrates, and a lot of this is a result of the agricultural practices on this property and in the surrounding areas. The groundwater flow through this property is southeasterly, so it heads towards the current settlement area. All of those people currently drink that water.' Bazzard continued, saying that while Phillips was right about there being systems to help improve the water, as it stands without the proposed development, they're already sitting at above what is acceptable for drinking water. She suggested that the applicant ultimately wait until the MESP findings come in, or until they can find a community wide solution before moving forward with the plans. Members of the public were then given the opportunity to speak to the application, and many residents expressed their concerns in regards to low water supply, the fact that the proposed water solutions were based on theories, and the ultimate loss of prime agricultural lands. 'A lot of us here today are farmers or have been residents of Scotland for many years, and theory aside, we need proof. We need proof that this isn't going to impact the major agricultural land that this is. …We're the major vegetable garden of Ontario and we have to feed all these people; how are we going to do that when we don't even have enough water for people to live in their houses?' asked Danielle Demeyere. 'We also have to keep in mind that we have to water all these fields. We're taking prime agricultural land that is perfect sandy soil for vegetables, and we're altering it for people to live, and while that's great, it's all about location.' Later, both Mayor David Bailey and Councillor Jennifer Kyle mentioned that because water issues are the responsibility of the Council, given what the staff report says, it would be in the community's best interest to support the staff recommendation. Councillor John Bell later asked if staff had been in touch with the Grand Erie Public Health, and Bazzard confirmed they have been in touch and that a meeting is being scheduled to discuss the water quality issue further. Council ultimately decided to vote in favour of staff's recommendation to deny the current zoning by-law amendment application and draft plan application for a proposed subdivision. Kimberly De Jong's reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at .
CBC
01-04-2025
- Health
- CBC
Less than 30% of Ontario's drinking water from private wells was tested last year, auditor general finds
Social Sharing Less than one-third of the 1.3 million Ontario residents who rely on private wells for their drinking water had it tested within the last twelve months, says a report by the province's auditor general. In her report released on Monday, Shelley Spence called the low testing rates "troubling" and found it's partly due to a lack of awareness among private well owners about free water testing services available to them — along with owners not knowing risks of drinking untested water. "It is very concerning because water is part of a flow, so there can be very different sources of water coming into those wells and things can change," Spence told CBC's Afternoon Drive on Monday. "It is really important for both the owners of small drinking water systems and private wells to get their water tested frequently." Small drinking water systems are non-municipal systems that serve public facilities like hotels, restaurants or churches, and they are overseen by local public health units (PHU). There are approximately 500,000 private wells at cottages, farms and other residences across the province. Unlike other non-municipal water systems, they are not regulated by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP), meaning it's up to owners to have the water tested. A 2021 Statistics Canada survey found that 40 per cent of private well owners in Ontario don't treat their water, making the lack of testing riskier, the report said. Some public health studies have suggested users of private wells are more prone to waterborne illnesses than individuals who get their drinking water from municipal systems. That lack of testing exposes Ontarians to health risks such as gastrointestinal illness and other serious health effects, including death. It can also result in significant financial costs due to hospitalizations, doctor visits and lost work days. "Drinking water can have contaminants such as biological issues," Spence said. "We've all heard of E-coli being in water, it can also have particle issues like having nitrates or lead in the drinking water which can have long-term and short-term effects for people using that water source." Over the past decade, 98 per cent of drinking water tests from non-municipal systems have met Ontario's Drinking Water Quality Standards. The lack of testing at private wells is very concerning and can pose significant health risks for people, said Aina DeViet, vice-chair of the Middlesex-London Health Unit. "There are a lot of people who aren't getting their wells tested regularly. It's very important to have it done, so I find that to be a really frightening statistic," said DeViet about the low testing rate. DeViet, who also uses private well in Middlesex County, said some residents are very organized and keep records of their water tests, but others aren't aware of how often they should be monitoring their water. She believes a joint educational effort between health units and municipalities can help bring awareness to communities, she said. "Maybe it's something local health units should take on and they could work with municipalities they support," she said. "We could help them with campaign websites to make sure our residents know. We have a number of channels we can use so we could help get it out." Lack of staffing, resources causes inspection backlog Ontario's Ministry of Health requires PHUs to inspect low and moderate-risk small drinking water systems at least once every four years and high-risk systems every two years. The auditor general's report found 52 per cent of the 33 PHUs didn't inspect all systems as required, with some backlogs dating more than five years. The backlogs are due to a lack of inspectors and a heavier workload with them require to inspect municipal sewage and stormwater systems. The report said MECP is responsible for monitoring and enforcing compliance but lacks capacity to regularly inspect them. It regulates 1,800 systems and 34 per cent of those haven't been checked in more than five years and nine per cent haven't been checked in seven years, including a community college that provides drinking water to 2,500 people. At the time of the audit, MECP had backlog of 73,800 well records not properly processed and updated to the Ministry's wells database. The auditor general made a number of recommendations to the province, including Ministry of Health and MECP working together to increase the frequency of inspections, and public health units using their enforcement powers to get people to comply with testing guidelines. "We really do need to do our part in getting the water tested and hold the government responsible for making sure people are informed as to how to go about getting their drinking water tested and using those enforcement tools to make sure people who are supposed to be doing this are actually doing it," said Spence.
