Rules for high-capacity wells not included in new Water Act consultations

The P.E.I. government released two different sets of regulations for the province's Water Act for public consultation Tuesday, but opposition parties wanted to draw attention to regulations which were not released to the public.

Government released new draft rules for the construction of wells and the operation of water and sewage treatment facilities.

A government bureaucrat told the legislature's standing committee on communities, land and environment Tuesday that new water extraction regulations were also "ready to go." 

That would include whatever new rules the province plans to bring in around the contentious issue of high-capacity wells. But the province's manager of drinking water and wastewater management George Somers said "we thought this is enough to put on the plate right now, these two sets of regulations, so we're proceeding with those."

Wells debate

It was a highly-charged debate five years ago over a request to lift a provincial moratorium on high-capacity wells for agricultural irrigation that set the province on a course to develop new legislation to protect the Island's water supply in the first place.

The MacLauchlan government passed the Water Act in December 2017 but the legislation still has not come into effect pending the development of the necessary regulations.

Somers told the committee that the two sets of regulations which have gone out for public consultation, governing well construction and the operation of treatment facilities, don't represent a big change over what the province has done in the past. "Most of what we're doing we already did, and have been doing for decades," he said.

On the regulations for extraction and high-capacity wells, he said those should go to public consultation "over the next couple of months I expect. Not my call," he said, gesturing to Environment Minister Richard Brown.

When pressed by opposition members of the committee, Brown said his department is waiting on more scientific research.

"We need a little bit more time to get a little bit more science to bring those regulations forward," Brown said.

"Are [the regulations] ready to go or are they not ready to go?" asked Green Leader Peter Bevan-Baker.

"There is a set of regulations. I'm going to ensure that the science is behind the regulations," Brown responded. "I'm not convinced or satisfied we have all the science we need."

'Contentious issue'

Afterwards Brown told reporters he was waiting for Charlottetown's new well field to become operational.

"If the city's water system was up and running, and the testing period was over, then I would have some true data to come forward," he said, expressing concern for water levels in the Winter River watershed, Charlottetown's main source of drinking water.

The province has contracted with the Canadian Rivers Institute for research on watershed levels and how those affect wildlife. A government spokeperson said that report isn't expected until 2021.

Brown told the committee the Water Act could be ready to be proclaimed in the fall, after the extraction regulations have gone through their own public consultation.

But opposition MLAs worried about the prospect of Islanders heading to the polls for a spring election without having seen the province's plan for dealing with high-capacity wells, which was a campaign issue during the 2015 election.

"What's the delay? What's in those regulations?" asked PC MLA Brad Trivers. "Is it just a politically thorny subject he doesn't want to bring up this close to an election?"

"The regulations are ready, we heard that loud and clear today," said Bevan-Baker. "The fact that it's a contentious issue should not prevent us from talking about it ... I just think Islanders want to discuss this."

Whatever might be in those regulations, Brown made it clear to reporters he was not prepared to lift the moratorium on high-capacity irrigation wells.

"I don't think we have the science yet ... I'm not going to lift any moratorium on deepwater wells until the science is in place."

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