Town residents hoping to hook up to municipal water and keep their existing well be disappointed, as Erin council voted against changing the current bylaw.
At the June 16 council meeting, interim water superintendent Joe Babin asked council to change the current bylaw, which states any well on a property must be decommissioned if that property connects to municipal services.
Babin asked council to allow property owners to connect to municipal water without decommissioning their well with conditions. The recommendation comes as the town neared the end of its connection fee waiving period on June 30.
“We’re asking for an amendment to the bylaw in order to work with some of the people that want to hook up to town water but can’t because they are not able to meet the requirements that we need,” said Babin.
Of the 15 residents looking to connect, some shared a well with a property that did not want to connect, and others had wells for shops and irrigation.
“Some of the homes in Hillsburgh are sharing a well, so you can’t decommission them. If one wants town water and the other doesn’t, we can’t make it happen. Some homes in Erin that have the property and want to keep the well for their horses, want to keep it for their shops and everything else, irrigation,” said Babin.
However, council was not convinced.
Councillor Matt Sammut said the discussion is premature and he wants council to discuss mandatory municipal water.
“Personally I think it’s premature because discussion has to take place at council at some point with regard to will people be forced to go onto it or not. So, to make a decision and pass an amendment such as this at this stage I think is very premature until we have that challenging discussion,” said Sammut.
Councillor John Brennan did not agree with the recommendation, stating if the bylaw is changed for these properties, others will have to have that option.
“People are already getting a break on this, they are not paying the connection fee till the end of this month,” said Brennan.
“I think to go one step further and say, ‘Oh well you can keep your well too’ – because if you say it now for these people you are in essence saying it for all 400 properties in the future that you may, as councilor Sammut says, at some point you may say, ‘You will be on the water system.’”
Brennan is also concerned that having wells on the same property as municipal water may be a source for contamination.
“One of the purposes with putting people on town water is to get rid of wells because we trust that people will take good care of their wells but every one is a potential for contamination,” said Brennan.
Councillor Jeff Duncan was also concerned, but more open to the idea.
“It is encouraging people to hook up to the municipal water supply and people are going to be using their private wells for irrigation purposes and that kind of stuff and there’s going to be less requirement or less pressure put on the water system because you’re not going to need it to provide as much water,” he said.
In an interview with the Advertiser, Babin said when the environmental assessment comes, it may recommend that the remaining homes be hooked up to municipal services.
He explained that once the sewage system is in place, people will have to be on municipal water.
“It might be identified in the environmental assessment, that this needs to be done, and then whenever they go to sewers, it’ll be everybody,” said Babin.
