FTLComm - Tisdale - May 27, 2000

We pretty much take a secure and safe water supply for granted. Water is after all one of the most important constituents of a civilised community and every community strives to make sure it can supply its residents with the best quality and abundance possible. It is for this reason that the shocking and hard to understand situation in Walkerton Ontario puzzles everyone. Floods do occur and water systems get contaminated, we all understand that and when it happens the citizens are warned to boil the water and precautions are taken to cope while repairs are being made. Tisdale's water supply is very similar to the sort of situation in Walkerton. Our water comes from several wells and at each of these sites chlorine is added to the water from the wells to kill any biological contaminants that are present. The water comes to this treatment plant for filtering and testing. The whole process is well understood and the extreme importance to the community is uppermost in the minds of those who work with the system. Everyone knows that accidents will happen and problems will arise but keeping the system well maintained and serviced reduces the surprises. But if something does go wrong, since the lives of everyone who uses this supply could be endangered the town moves always to inform long before there is even a remote possibility of danger. All municipal governments are act in this manner and we have lived in so many different communities and many many times we have been informed of a water break, possible contamination or dangers from floods and other problems. And every time local government has been there to warn us and prevent illness or injury from the problem. That is why the Walkerton incident is so unusual. Apparently, their water maintenance crew knew of contamination in their supply and advised people in public health that things were all right, three days after the numbers of sick began showing up the health authorities issued there own warning and municipal authorities in Walkerton remained silent not admitting until two days later that indeed their water supply was unsafe. I discussed the situation in Walkerton with our town manager who was profoundly concerned about the situation there and wanted everyone to know that Tisdale will always do its best to look after the system and when things go wrong will be quick to inform people of danger. One factor that we in Tisdale do not have to contend with and that is large numbers of cattle in the area of our water supply. The e-coli that infected Walkerton's water supply is unique to cattle and can infect humans. The e-coli bacteria itself does not do harm but it breeds rapidly producing a toxin (poison) that starves body organs of their blood supply. Patients who are unable to fight off the infection and move on to having their organs attacked suffer a very high mortality rate and even if they survive will have permanent damage to their kidneys and often other organs as well. We will bring you a closer and more detailed look at the Tisdale water treatment system when we are able to get the pictures taken and a tour of the facility. Timothy W. Shire