![['Premier Tom Marshall, right, flanked to the left by Steady Brook Mayor Peter Rowsell, announces $1.6 million for a new municipal building to house Steady Brook’s fire hall and maintenance garage Monday, June 30, 2014.']](https://saltwire.imgix.net/steady-brook-municipal-building-2659740.jpg?cs=srgb&fit=crop&h=568&w=847&dpr=1&auto=compress%2Cformat%2Cenhance)
According to the mayor, the wells that began servicing the town’s drinking water needs last November, have all but dried up.
Rowsell told The SaltWire Network Tuesday that most residents probably are unaware they are now drinking mostly brook water and not the crystal clean water from the depths of the earth they thought they were enjoying.
“I’m not saying this with council’s consent, but I think, as mayor, our residents should know they are drinking brook water,” said Rowsell.
There are no boil water advisories because the water taken from just above Steady Brook Falls is being chlorinated. There are also no advisories to conserve water at this point because there is adequate water flowing in the stream.
Rowsell has been opposed to an artesian well system since the inception of a plan to implement one about a decade ago. By the time he became mayor nearly four years ago, the wheels were already in motion and the majority of council supported going in that direction.
The cost of the artesian well project was closed to $600,000, with the provincial government covering 90 per cent of the cost.
Four wells were drilled on top of Marble Mountain. One of them did not yield any water, but the other three did at the time they were tested.
Rowsell said the experts he has spoken with have told him the wells likely would not replenish quickly enough to consistently meet the town’s drinking water needs.
“They said you’re not drilling into a marble mountain, but a limestone mountain,” said the mayor.
He added the tank the town draws water from is supposed to replenish every night, but that has not been happening. Rowsell also said pushing the intakes deeper into the artesian wells won’t guarantee being able to meet the demand in the long term.
Calling it a waste of taxpayers’ money, Rowsell said the funding would have been better spent on a state-of-the-art filtration system for the water from the brook.
“I think this dream some people had of drinking pristine water from an artesian well has become a nightmare,” said Rowsell. “I don’t think we will ever come off having to use brook water 100 per cent.”
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