Dozens of Memramcook residents dealing with water worries as winter approaches

A dry summer in New Brunswick caused headaches for people with wells in the Memramcook area, and some are wondering what that means for winter.

Dozens of residents are still dealing with wells that are very dry or totally dry.

"You know, just hoping we get a lot of rain this fall," said Memramcook resident Jeanne Hebert.

Hebert's well ran dry three times in two weeks at one point over the summer, leaving her family with some choices to make. 

"It was really at the point where it was, 'Are we going to give the kids a bath or are we going to give … our garden some water?" she said.

Hebert said she doesn't remember a year as dry as this one, adding that her family didn't have water for 10 days in total over the summer.

"Even when the water comes back afterwards, you have to kind of give it a couple days to build up," said Hebert.

Herbert and other residents had to start getting water deliveries.

Michel Bossé was in a similar situation. He decided to get the equipment he needed to get his own water to fill his well. 

Now he's selling water to about 30 families in the area, charging $40 for 2,000 litres. 

"Big lack of precipitation this summer, all the land is pretty dry even right now," said Bossé.

But the concern is winter.

Mayor Michel Gaudet said it's a worry for many people and time is running out.

"We need multiple, multiple days of rain which we haven't gotten, and time is of the essence at this point in the year," Gaudet said.

According to Gaudet, there's about 60 houses with very dry, or totally dry, wells. 

The Village of Memramcook covered 75 per cent of the cost to have water delivered, up to a $1,000 per house.

Hoping for rain

Gaudet said it was meant to be a short-term solution with hopes of rainfall. 

Hebert said she's just hoping that there will be enough rain before winter sets in.

"It's a lot of stress," she said. 

Bossé admits he doesn't know what will happen if there's no major improvement in conditions before the winter, but said he's going to try to help out people as much as possible.

"I will try to get everything in my garage to make sure it doesn't freeze so I'm able to bring water to the people in Memramcook as they need it."