Ken Elder must have been smiling ear to ear when confirmation from the Woolwich Agricultural Society came about a special grant to help teach people, specifically kids, about water.
If a street poll were taken, many people know little more about water than it comes from a tap or bottle. This adds to long standing jokes that milk comes from a bag and eggs come from the store. Urbanization and the convenience of city services have a way of removing people far enough from the source that they begin to take it for granted. In extreme cases, some people might have no clue about how it is produced.
There is a detailed regimen that takes place so clean drinking water can make its way to people’s homes. With some prodding, kids will hopefully have a quiz for parents about where municipal water comes from.
The Walkerton disaster that ended up claiming lives in that small town, boiled down to lax following of rules and bogus reports. The health impacts culminated in severe scrutiny and the implementation of recommendations that continue to drive up the cost of delivering services to residents.
Even with deaths and tragic News coverage, we can still recall one local Mayor facing some scrutiny from the Ministry over his town’s supply being entirely puzzled. That town had been served for decades from fresh spring water. Times have certainly changed with regard to that naïve view of water and public health.
All municipalities that provide water to residents have strict rules we hope are shared with young people. Apart from that, there are other tangible benefits to having people understand at a young age that how we treat the environment has a very real impact on the health of water aquifers.
Years ago, there was a program started to paint fish characters near storm water drains to help people visualize that hazardous materials dumped down those drains impacted the eco-system.
It is hoped that those kinds of messages get reinforced with local kids who just might mention to a neighbour thinking about dumping the last of a container of toxic fluid down the drain that it is definitely not okay.
We wish Elder and the local leaders well in this initiative.
