WATER WOES

So the Town of Shelburne is having a little bit of trouble locating a well near the town, due to arsenic discovered in the local town well water supply. (Source: Shelburne Free Press, front page, July 1, 2010)

Now, now, don’t panic. The Government of Canada says arsenic is a naturally occurring substance in food and water and is acceptable at certain levels.

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/environ/arsenic-eng.php

Problem with Shelburne’s wells are:

they are below the acceptable levels as set by the feds, but above the provincial guidelines.

And I have to wonder.

While arsenic in water naturally occurs in certain areas, why hasn’t the naturally occurring arsenic been detected in Shelburne’s wells before?

What has not been mentioned is about 30 years ago a manufacturing plant, which was going to be the economic salvation of Shelburne arrived. If I recall correctly, political leaders at the time were tripping over themselves to accommodate this company. (Deja vu, anyone?)

What were they manufacturing? “Green wood”. What makes wood green? Arsenic of course. In fact, over the years, people living on Victoria Street couldn’t hang white laundry out on windy days because it turned green. These statements are FACT.

In FACT-municipalities and schools have been tearing out the “green wood” playgrounds at an unprecedented rate to replace them with plastic playgrounds, due to arsenic leaching into the ground.

Now I know, I know, the Shelburne plant doesn’t use arsenic in treating their wood anymore. But there is no way, in my OPINION, that the facility could have operated, as long as it did, using arsenic with no impact. Do I know that for a FACT-no, but some politician or municipality should be asking those questions.

Also, this COULD be a little lesson in aquifers and how water really works. Any potential contaminant into the water source can potentially impact water users from that aquifer. And I am not sure where business and industry and $10/hr jobs became more important that every Canadian’s right to clean water.