By Pam Wright
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Another year has passed and Wallaceburg Area Wind Concerns (WAWC) members are still waiting for answers from the province.
The advocacy group, as well as affected landowners, are continuing to push the Ministry of Health, Ontario’s Ombudsman and Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MPP Steve Pinsonneault for action.
They want to know if the government is going to officially probe the potential health effects of toxic metals found in the sediment of private wells in North Kent.
According to Denise Shephard, a volunteer director with WAWC, officials continue to sidestep the concerns of residents whose wells produce dirty black water.
“This is an important issue as the effects of this water impacts the health of many people,” she told The Voice in a recent interview. “This can’t be swept under the rug again.”
In a fight that’s spanned the better part of a decade, rural residents in North Kent claim their wells became fouled when industrial wind turbine developments took shape in Chatham-Kent. Many homeowners in the former Chatham Township and Dover areas say their well water turned murky and black, clogging pumps and filters and making it unfit to use and drink – a problem that continues to this day.
Studies have determined the industrial turbines have been constructed on an aquifer comprised of Kettle Point Black Shale known to carry toxic metals. It’s still unknown if the metals are bio-accessible and potentially harmful to humans.
Along with her husband Terry, Christine Burke is one of the well owners who has been dealing with a fouled well for years, making it necessary for the couple to haul water.
“I’m not just worried about me, I’m worried about my neighbours,” said the Mitchell’s Bay area resident, noting one man is in a wheelchair and the task of procuring clean water is very difficult for him.
In 2023, Burke and WAWC members fundraised to have nine North Kent wells tested by an independent lab. The water analysis found significant concentrations of arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, lead, and nickel. Mercury was found in two cases.
Later in 2023, a motion was brought forward by North Kent Coun. Rhonda Jubenville asking the Ministry of Health to test the sediment for health hazards.
Two letters requesting the testing be done have been sent to the MOH on behalf of Chatham-Kent, but no response has been received to date.
Jubenville said she’s disappointed with the government’s inaction.
“There’s no reason they can’t support the families that are affected,” Jubenville said. “Supporting those families would be a drop in the bucket to the province.”
Local geologist Keith Benn, who sat the expert panel for Ontario’s all-hazard study in 2021, said the lack of acknowledgment from the province is astounding.
“It’s mind blowing,” Benn said. “Every single well analyzed has some sort of metals in it. But they haven’t reached out. The fact that they will not respond to a municipality is deeply concerning.”
In January 2024, Burke and Benn filed an official complaint about the need for the MOH to conduct sediment testing with the Ontario Ombudsman’s office, but no action has been taken. According to Burke, the ombudsman is waiting on the MOH for reports.
In the meantime, WAWC is reaching out to Pinsonneault for help.
Shephard said the group is hoping the MPP will present a 1,400-signature petition to the Ontario Legislature calling on government to expand the scope of the 2021 all-hazard study to “properly” analyze the metals in the sediment of the wells.
However, they’ve been unable work out the details with Pinsonneault.
Shephard said the rights of Chatham-Kent’s country folk are being ignored.
“If this was happening in Prestancia or Victoria Avenue in Chatham, something would be done,” she added. “But in North Kent, it is out of sight, out of mind.”
