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The Well Aware program was participated in
by a broad range of municipalities who have a significant
rural population within them, including Kingston. And our partners included the health unit,
the regional conservation authority, the ministry of the environment - which provided funding.
And so it was a benefit for a broad spectrum of communities in Ontario.
So well aware is a well stewardship program for rural homeowners.
So, basically what we're trying to do is use peer-to-peer communication and education to get
people to make an impact on their groundwater for the better.
So how they can protect their groundwater in their wells, their septic systems,
what they can do to look after them.
Everthing that's discharged eventually makes its way back into the groundwater
aquifer. It can create significant problems for a number of people. Whole communities can be affected.
We know what happened in Walkerton, so that's the warning we've had in terms of how well we have
to look after our ground water resource.
It is peer-to-peer as opposed to a regulatory person coming in and telling you what you have to do.
It's easier for them to ask questions since they know that I'm from the area, that I know what's happening around here.
so I'm better able to talk to them one-on-one.
So do you know how old your septic system is?
Well the house was built 27 years ago, so I'm guessing..
Probably around the same time? Ok. Did you have it pumped when you got the house?
The city has provided support in the way of meeting space, advertising, media releases, assisting with getting workshop experts to participate.
We did a workshop - an information provider workshop - last year, and it was almost exclusively real estate agents from the rural setting because they wanted to be able to be
informed, and know what they should be telling their clients and have the right messages to be giving them
If the groundwater isn't protected and taken care of, the economic cost to the community, to the province,
to the country is really incalculable.
Almost everyone had done some sort of upgrade, or at least some of the recommendations
that we had suggested during the visit.
Recently there has been four public meetings on this initiative and by the fact that these are sold out shows
shows that it's a success.
If you can get a local slant on issues that are very broad you can be more effective in achieving more significant results for everybody.
We are all in it together, because it's a shared ground water resource and if we're not protecting it, no-one else will. So we really need to take those steps to do that.