New Harbour Road residents sound off on water woes

By Olivia Bradbury, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

There was a big turnout at Spaniard’s Bay council’s April meeting as dozens of New Harbour Road residents attended to express concern about their water supply.

Kim Welsh, a retired teacher, gave a presentation on behalf of the residents about the hardships they have endured due to a poor water supply.

“I think we all realize that, as a council and as a town, it’s incumbent on us to work together to do what we can to make our community a wonderful place to live,” said Welsh. “And I think our town has a lot of potential and I think that with all of us working together and supporting one another, we can certainly reach that potential.”

Welsh said since she moved to there some 20 years ago, the area has had very low water pressure and sometimes no water at all. A longtime resident, she added, told her the original lines went in 54 years ago.

During the recent fire at the Precision Taekwondo building in Spaniard’s Bay, Welsh said, she and some of her neighbours had no water at all.

“Given the situation that we all went through last summer with fires, I can’t tell you how frightening that was, how alarming and how disturbing it was,” Welsh said. “Low pressure can compromise fire hydrant effectiveness and emergency response capabilities, and that’s top priority for a lot of people.”

Welsh said the poor water supply negatively affects residents’ personal hygiene, with some people unable to take showers due to low water pressure. The lack of water has forced some seniors to retrieve water from other sources or clear dirt and rocks out of pipes. Businesses have also been affected; Welsh gave the example of a hairdresser who had to cancel appointments due to a lack of water.

Welsh said due to the low pressure, he cannot run her washing machine and dishwasher at the same times. Residents cannot always access drinking water when there are shutoffs, she added. Some residents in the audience said they don’t feel safe drinking the water due to its poor quality and that they must rely on bottled water, which is an additional cost.

Welsh asked whether New Harbour Road could tie into another water supply. She wondered if the Town had applied for all the grants and funding that is available and questioned the necessity some of the services the Town pays for, such as regional enforcement, animal control, and travel expenses for councillors.

“We understand that you don’t have excess funds,” said Welsh. “You got money coming in, and you got money going out. And we don’t want council in the red. We really don’t. I mean, nobody, whether you’re a household, a town, a province, a country, everybody likes to have a balanced budget. That’s without debate. But I want you to understand our frustration about where our tax dollars are being spent.”

Welsh said the fault for the poor water supply does not lie with anyone currently sitting on council. However, she told council it has to ensure future expenditures will not be made unless it is certain they will positively impact the town. “All agreements put in place must be given assurances that we will not be responsible for paying back debts that results in no positive benefit to our town,” Welsh warned.

She has posted a petition online calling for money to be spent on the road’s water line and presented a copy of it to Mayor Tammy Oliver prior to her presentation.

Oliver acknowledged the present and future councils have much to do when it comes to improving infrastructure.

“We have been working behind the scenes, and I will certainly apologize,” said Oliver. “Moving forward we hope to certainly increase that transparency between council to keep you all informed. Nobody on this council could agree with it more that, when you have those lines of communication open, it’s better for everyone. We get more feedback, you guys understand our next moves coming forward, what we did, the mistakes we made, how we move on from all that.”

Oliver said the Town has conducted some studies on its infrastructure.

“We do have an asset management (assessment) that was done on all the infrastructure, and encompasses where we should be putting our money,” the mayor said. She added Spaniard’s Bay is looking into trying something other towns have had success with, and is currently waiting on an engineering estimate, though she provided no further details on what that is.