Muskoka is Getting Well Aware

Did you know that the Muskoka Heritage Foundation delivers the Well Aware program? This program helps protect drinking water and groundwater resources.

Well Aware’s trained representatives conduct visits, known as “guided self-assessments,” with well owners to help them learn how to manage their own wells. The visits are voluntary, non-regulatory, and confidential.

The program was developed to meet the need for consistent, reliable information about caring for private wells. Homeowners who receive poor results from well-water tests contact Well Aware as a starting point to learn how they can improve their water. Property owners new to living on a well can also contact the program to learn how to protect and conserve their water supply from day one.

On each Muskoka area visit, Matt (above right), our local Well Aware representative, asks a series of questions from a standardized assessment tool to determine how the well is being managed. Afterwards the advisor provides information and contacts that will help the homeowner follow up on recommendations made during the visit. Recommendations typically include well upgrades to meet current safety standards, removing potential contaminants from the well area, testing the water regularly (like in the photo below) and pumping septic tanks.
Well Aware is the first large-scale private well stewardship program in Canada. It has won the 2009 Sustainable Community Award for Water, awarded by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and CH2MHill.

Besides well home visits, Well Aware distributes a booklet and video, operates a website, and has developed many useful factsheets. Well Aware focuses on education and awareness on well owners to help empower them to make positive changes to protect their primary source of drinking water.

Are you Well Aware?

Contact Rebecca Francis at Muskoka Heritage Foundation to book your well visit!

Well Aware is a program of Green Communities Canada (GCC). It is delivered in Muskoka by Muskoka Heritage Foundation, the local GCC member organization, and in 21 other Ontario upper tier municipalities by 14 GCC member organizations.

Well Aware- a limited number of visits left for 2010

Here in Muskoka the majority of home owners depend on their water wells to supply their home with water for drinking and everyday use. For those who depend on a well the Muskoka Heritage Foundation offers the Well Aware program.

The main purpose of the Well Aware Program is to educate private well owners on best management practices and encourage an annual self inspection of their water wells. This is to insure the home has safe drinking water and to protect our ground water resource.

Although the water well is the principle target of the Well Aware visit, ground water connections between the property's septic system and any nearby bodies of water (i.e. lake/river) are addressed and discussed. Another topic discussed during the Well Aware visit is testing of the homes well water for bacteria and nitrates.

Water well testing is a free service offered to private well owners though the Ministry of Health. Best management practices recommend testing your well water a minimum of three times a year. Most often the homes well water is tested once a year and in most cases the tested water comes back free of bacteria. However, water tested at different times of the year can receive dramatically different results. Testing your water in Spring (after snowmelt) again in the summer months, then after a heavy rain in the autumn will give you a better indication of the changes that occur in your well throughout the year.

Ground water can also change from nearby land uses. Assuming the water in your well is free from harmful bacteria because it has been in the past is not always correct. Instead routinely testing your water before and after the homes filtration system a minimum of three times a year, continuously year after year will insure that you’re well aware the water that you and your family are using is safe.

Water testing bottles can be picked up at your local Ministry of Health Office, for locations of your local Ministry of Health Office click here.

For sampling procedure and more information on the type of bacteria your water sample is being tested for click here.

Contact Rebecca Francis at the Muskoka Heritage Foundation to book your Well Aware visit

Freshwater Summit & Water Issues

The Freshwater Summit was held last week on June 1 and 2. The outcome will be a communiqué policy statement that will presented to all levels of government as well as the Canadian contigent for the G8. There was also a Youth Summit that ran in conjunction where high school students from Muskoka and Orillia drafted their own communiqué.

The main messages from the Summit: "Water is our most valuable resource" and "All citizens must recognize their individual responsibilities in relation to water".

The speakers were Maude Barlow, national chairperson of the Council of Canadians; Henry lickers, director of the Department of the Environment for the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne; Gord Miller, Ontario Environmental Commissioner; Dr. David Schindler, professor of ecology at the University of Alberta; Dr. John Smol, Canada research chair in environmental change; and Dr. Norm Yan, professor of ecology at York University.

For more information on the speakers, their talks, and the summit go to www.2010freshwatersummit.org

Water is vital to our existance. This means we must all be education about water issues on local and global levels. It also means we must all take actions in water justice issues. It is a big responsibility! There is so much to think about: cleanliness, conservation, scarcity, water as a commons, and water as a human right are just the begining of a long list of water-realted issues.

A great place to start for Muskokans is the Muskoka Water Web at www.muskokawaterweb.ca. It is a phenomenal resource to link to to start getting educated about some of these issues. There, you will also find a link to the 2010 Watershed Report Card that was released in May 2010. It assesses the health of the Muskoka watershed and links to sub-watershed reports.

On a global level, check out www.blueplantproject.net. A fantastic resource for global water issues and what you can do to help. If you will be in Toronto on June 25th, be sure to check out www.canadians.org/g20/event.html to hear more amazing speakers and network about global justice issues.

If you missed the Freshwater Summit or want to re-visit it then stay tuned to TV COGECO during the week of the G8 (June 21-26) for a re-broadcast of the talks. Paul Kennedy from CBC Radio 1 show Ideas will also be compressing the talks into a 2-hour segment on June 24th and 25th.

So much to think about and do! What are you doing??