Pilot project looking at well water in Berwick

Forty per cent of Nova Scotians get their drinking water from private wells. In the town of Berwick, that number is 100 per cent.

That’s one good reason that the Ecology Action Centre wants to carry out some research and it is launching a program called Healthy Water: It’s Well Worth it.

The other, says Jennifer West, is because most people don’t think about where their water comes from. Many Nova Scotians can’t afford to test or treat their water, she says.

That’s why the Ecology Action Centre is organizing a pilot water project in Berwick, West told an audience at Acadia University on Feb. 5.

The rocks that underlie this province can result in natural chemistry that might make people sick. For example, West said, some regions have arsenic at rates much higher than Canadian drinking water standards. Arsenic has been linked to some types of cancers.

This has been an issue in areas of Greenwood recently, another area that depends on well water, where higher than acceptable levels of arsenic were found after a well test last summer.

Often, West said, residents are unaware of high concentrations of arsenic, uranium, nitrates and other chemicals in their water. Only eight per cent of Nova Scotians test their water.

Other departments were not as busy, but there were a handful of other calls. At 12:39 p.m., Aylesford and District firefighters responded to a fire alarm sounding on School House Road. At 6:53 p.m., Waterville and District firefighters responded to assist paramedics with a medical emergency in Grafton.

On Feb. 16, as most Nova Scotians spent their first February Heritage Day holiday digging out, Kentville firefighters responded to a fire alarm sounding in an apartment complex on Prospect Avenue. At 9:16 a.m., Port Williams firefighters responded to render assistance for snow removal.

Just after noon, Canning firefighters were paged to render assistance to EHS for a medical emergency in the Blomidon area. According to Deputy Chief Jeff Skaling, firefighters responded to rescue a family, including a pregnant woman, who were stranded in their home without heat or power.

The family was taken to be checked out by paramedics, then transported to stay with family living in New Minas, “where they fortunately had power and heat,” Skaling said.

The Department of Transportation “was a big help” to the rescue effort, providing a large grader snowplow to clear the road to the residence.

“Fortunately, there were no other calls” during the storm, Skaling said, as roads in the Canning area “were not good,” and in some places were totally impassable due to the snow and wind.

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