Kincardine Council has approved continuing their agreement with Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority for water quality testing.
The SVCA wanted to continue offering the service to municipalities that wanted to pay for it, along with the education and communication of their findings, as it is an optional service.
Councillor Jennifer Prenger was sharing information on the service with the mayor, the rest of the council, and the public during Wednesday’s meeting.
With the SVCA testing water quality on a regular basis, it allows for the results to be recorded so that changes and trends can be tracked over time, which is considered to be part of the education about the service, and communication of the findings of the testing.
She explains “It is a service that if we don’t do it for even a year, the data becomes — not useless — but close to [it].”
She says that the water testing service is also a good value for money.
“In terms of how much we will have to pay to support the conservation authority in total is in the hundreds of thousands. And this service is going to cost us $17,000.”
Before council voted on the matter, Councillor Amanda Steinhoff-Gray shared her opinon on the matter, reminding her colleagues that it’s the municipality’s duty to ensure the drinking water is safe. “We have an accountability to the public that the water is safe, and it’s not something we can buy insurance for. I think that this is an important program, because it will provide what I call ‘leading indicators’ if [there are] other things we need to be concerned about. And it’s invaluable to me in that sense.”
