| .....The Canadian Press, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada reported that Ontario has elected to give owners of drinking water systems, "serving rural community halls, tourist operators, and mobile trailer parks an extra six months to install treatment equipment."
.....In a move that may be paralled in the US—for similar cost parameters reasons—the deadline for installing water treatment equipment was extended from July 1, 2004, to Dec. 31, 2004.
.....The Press quoted Leona Dombrowsky, Ontario's environment minister, "I've heard from rural municipalities, public-health units and hundreds of small privately run systems across the province that many are having difficulties meeting the stringent requirements of the drinking water regulation."
.....New regulations were imposed after a judicial inquiry into the water tragedy in Walkerton; seven people died and another 2,500 were sickened in Walkerton after deadly strain of E. coli bacteria leached into the town's water supply.
.....The regulations require a strict—and expensive—regimen of chlorination and water testing for all water offered for public consumption in Ontario.
....."The previous government didn't consider the effects of the regulation on rural Ontario," Dombrowsky told the Press. "Our plan, in extending the treatment deadline by six months, is to meet with associations representing these stakeholders over the next couple of months to find solutions that will work for rural drinking water systems." 
|
