Small Water Systems discussion by the “Provincial Eelctoral Directors Water Committee”

Small Water Systems discussion by the “Provincial  Directors Water Committee” was of a suggested change to looking at systems of 2 to 25 people. The costs of running small water systems, to the quality that is expected by health boards can run into the millions of dollars. It is not workable in some cases; there needs to be a way of residents getting the water that they have been using for years without going into debt to do it. The committee did not want to be looking at water shed protection. The discussion is just on water systems.  The idea is that it would be self regulating by the system operators/owners. They would have to take tests 4 times annually, as well have to distribute the information from these tests to the users of these systems. There would be a chemical analysis of the water, every 5 years. The premise being worked on, is that people have to understand there is a risk and a cost; either in a health risk or a cost risk. The committee is saying that leaving it to the people who have small systems should be able to make that choice. The cost for the highest quality of water is not affordable to small system users.  You cannot regulate common sense. We do not want to see people priced out of their homes or having a home that cannot access useable water. There was concern of how this exclusion could be written up. One would not want a developer of 200 lots to divide his subdivision into four and then skim under the legal provisions that they should be following. A suggested cap of 25 users is good in that it is an easy number for effective communication.