Water Wells First's Kevin Jakubec holds up cloudy water from a well near Dover Township, July 15, 2016 (Photo by Jake Kislinsky)Water Wells First's Kevin Jakubec holds up cloudy water from a well near Dover Township, July 15, 2016 (Photo by Jake Kislinsky)
Chatham

MOE Working To Solve Dirty Well Water Issue

The Ministry of Environment is defending itself when it comes to dirty well water in Dover Centre.

Ministry spokesperson Gary Wheeler tells BlackburnNews.com in an e-mail that staff met with concerned residents twice in March and groundwater technical staff visited four homes but were unable to substantiate the source of the reported well issues as baseline water quality data could not be provided.

The ministry is being accused of not doing enough by the group called Water Wells First.

Wheeler says ministry staff collected water samples from two locations in June and let residents know that ministry findings and next steps, will depend on the outcome of the groundwater assessment and vibration monitoring work being undertaken as part of the North Kent 1 wind project.

He adds the ministry will use those results to determine whether there could be a link between wind turbine construction and operation and well water quality in the area.

Wheeler says sampling now isn't valid because there was no vibration monitoring and groundwater sampling before the wind farm construction, adding the ministry was not aware of any concerns regarding this issue before.

The ministry now requires all future wind farm applicants in the same area to study the potential impacts of wind turbines on groundwater as part of their renewable energy approval application.

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