Well OK. It was 2007, and we were temporarily in Newfoundland.
We received notice from the county here at home in Nova Scotia, that they were considering installing municipal water along our road and requesting permission to a well water test as the first stage of a process to determine whether the area needed municipal water supplied.
Sure, of course we thought, and notified our tenants that someone would be around to take a water sample.
As a result we got a free water test in February 2008, something you should do every so often anyway, if you have a well. The results of the test for us were OK. We got a report that indicated nothing harmful in our well, but did note that we have higher iron than is considered aesthetically pleasing.
I already knew that because of the rust stains on my tub and shower and toilet.
In June that year, there was a public information meeting about a water project which we couldn't go to because we were in Newfoundland. They did send out the overall results of the area water tests, which I found shocking. Of 80 tested samples, 17 had higher than acceptable levels of something that would affect peoples health. In other words, about 22% of households in my neighbourhood had unsafe drinking water. Mostly it was bromine from the sea water infiltration, but some houses had coliform or selenium too. 13 houses like ours had high iron counts and 15 had high sodium counts.
What followed next was a number of meetings to decided if we wanted to fork out the bucks to pay for a water line installation and how much we would be willing to pay. The first proposal didn't include the whole area, and some residents felt left out. These meetings had a distinct "Gilmore Girls' quality about them.
The next proposal six months later in 2009, doubled the cost per household to about $10,000 and we all balked at that.
The third proposal changed some of the engineering to reduce the cost and the price came out to $6000. Then we were asked to commit to the project or not. To get funding from various forms of government, the project needed 40% of residents committed to paying the $6 grand. We had to commit by a certain date, just before Christmas. We didn't get the 40% because who has time to look at this stuff just before Christmas?
The deadline was extended, and eventually in early 2010, we got the 40%.
Then the proposal went to county council for approval, and to the various levels of government for infrastructure funding, some of it only available this year, as economy booster funds, from the feds. If we didn't start actually doing something this year we wouldn't get that funding and the cost per household would go back up to $10,000.
Then came the long process of the main pipe installation which lasted all spring, summer and into the fall this year. The project was supposed to be completed in September, and in August there was another public meeting to tell us that it would probably be October, but we could pay our money now.
We paid up, and started wondering when we would find time to get the lateral pipe to the house installed this fall. Then came another public meeting to explain to residents how that was supposed to work. Apparently everyone else hadn't done anything either.
Finally, on Dec 1, we had the lateral installed to the house. That looked like this.
And This.
And This.
On the up side, Peter got to rent a really big tool and drill through the foundation (3 times until we got it right.)
We still have only well water though. The Village is refusing to take ownership of the project from the county until a few engineering kinks are worked out. To complicate the process, some residents who had committed to paying are summer cottagers who got tired of waiting around and left for the season. Until they pay, the village doesn't want to take on the maintenance because they don't have enough houses connected to make that pay.
On Monday we had a wicked wind storm that knocked out power for 24 hours. With a well, when we lose power we lose water. So close and yet so far.Three years and counting.
