Silence tells Ontario government North Kent well water problems after wind turbine construction have gone away: they haven’t
November 22, 2022
Geologist Keith Benn, who was one member of an expert panel created by the Ontario government to look at well water problems in North Kent, says more work needs to be done on the problem, and people can help by testing the water and reporting to the environment ministry.
Well water became cloudy and contaminated with black particles after wind turbine construction began in 2018; some wells were so clogged with sediment that the filtration equipment in some homes no longer works, and people have to store water in their garages or basements.
In a meeting held in the former Dover Township on Sunday, Benn said that while the government-sponsored study wasn’t perfect, it did show that more work needed to be done.
Citizens can help by having their own water tested, and reporting the results to the environment ministry, he said.
Otherwise, government will think the problems have just gone away.
“Maybe if some more people do this with their wells, and there’s a bigger data set, and it comes back showing this for a number of wells, maybe the government will be interested in doing more work,” he said, according to a report in the Chatham Daily News.
One of the problems with the recent study is that too few people participated; this echoes the experience in 2018-2019 when the Huron County Health Unit did a study on wind turbine noise but too few families participated. Huron County has seen hundreds of formal reports to the environment ministry about wind turbine noise, which led to the establishment of the health study.
Residents attending the meeting said they have lost trust in the Ford government and the environment ministry.
2 Comments
Stan Thayer
OMG what a joke THAT posting is, even the photo is ten years old!
A paid government appointed official with no active authority thinks another study is needed, I take it by his direction, to produce more taxpayer funded dribble about what has been a profitable venture to everyone except those locals that have been affected.
Hey, nothing new here folks!
BUT!
Keep testing the contaminated water that hasn’t changed in a decade and keep reporting that it is the same now as before!
Sometimes ya juss gotta shake yur hed!
admin
Sorry, but that is not correct. Keith Benn is NOT a “paid government official,” he is an independent and highly regarded geologist. He was one of 5 people on the expert panel reviewing the North Kent water situation, and was disappointed that the government did not allow for testing of the actual sediment in the water. Further testing by residents is what he is recommending now, in the hope that results will spur the government into more study, which was the panel’s recommendation. He’s one of the good guys!!!