An investigation into private water wells in North Kent has found "no widespread health risks" in the area's drinking water, although the Ministry of Health admits it needs more information to get a clearer picture.
The area of study was north of Chatham where North Kent 1 wind farm has had 34 turbines spinning since early 2018 just northeast of Pioneer Line and Bear Line.
The ministry report showed that data derived from the 2021 investigation revealed well water in the North Kent 1 area to be of "substantially poorer quality" in comparison to well water from outside of the North Kent 1 area and a comparison of the recent data to the baseline assessment before the towers were constructed indicates that the general water quality in the North Kent 1 area has deteriorated significantly between 2017 and 2021.
"The results of those two comparisons are consistent with well water interference within the North Kent 1 area between 2017 and 2021," read the report.
On Monday, the Ministry of Health issued a letter and the results to residents who have been expressing concerns with the quality of their drinking water for several years, including turbidity, discoloration, taste, odour, and sediments that come from the aquifer below.
An expert panel made up of four toxicologists and a local geologist conducted the investigation over the past year and the ministry wants to further study if the wells closest to the wind turbine are more strongly affected by the sediment than the others further away. The ministry also wants to study a larger area.
The testing and analysis done by Englobe Corporation was done on 61 wells within the North Kent wind farm area and nine outside of the boundary in order to effectively compare the samples, according to the ministry. The ministry said the latest results were also compared with results from a baseline assessment done in 2016-2017 before the wind towers were built.
The ministry report showed that 17 per cent of the wells tested (12) had elevated levels of fluoride that "marginally" exceed health standards and only one well had high levels of lead.
In the letter, Acting Director with the Ministry of Health Robert Lerch said the wells were tested for a variety of toxic biological and chemical hazards, including metals and inorganics, bacteria and organics, physical and radioactive substances (bromate, arsenic, barium, lead, and methylene chloride).
"Whether any of the contaminants listed above would pose either or both of a short-term or long-term health risk due to consumption of water from the tested wells or from other wells in the North Kent 1 area remains somewhat uncertain at present due to several factors including the rather sparse sampling that was performed for the 2021 study," wrote the expert panel in its final report.
The report noted that Englobe found small amounts of sediment on 26 filtration systems that were black in colour that potentially came from the black shale bedrock underneath the wells, which is home to several potentially toxic metals.
Lerch noted only 70 of the 309 residents who were asked, participated in the testing and sampling.
He said residents who had elevated bacteria levels in their wells were contacted to talk about a remedy.
Lerch said the ministry will continue to monitor the private wells and arrange for testing as needed along with analyzing the data to better inform well owners about the safety of their drinking water.