MUNICIPAL COUNCILLORS TO HAVE A MORE PERSONAL STAKE IN WATER QUALITY

This is an interesting development. According to today's Waterloo Region Record, city councillors have somehow been put more firmly on the liability hook for water quality in their jurisdictions. Apparently the provincial Safe Drinking Water Act states that as of this January,liability switches away from Staff who follow orders to Councils and Councillors who give them. The title of the article is "City councillors legally responsible for clean water". Keep in mind councillors are completely covered by municipal liability insurance so fines aren't the problem. What would interest me is if down the road safe drinking water moved up to criminal status and penalties. Boy would you see bureaucrats and politicians running for cover then.

This legislation was the result of the fatal Walkerton water crisis. Criminal negligence charges were and still are a possible remedy especially in a case of neglect as glaring as occurred in Walkerton. There the negligence was spread far and wide and included individual employees, municipal staff and provincial M.O.E. personnel. The Region of Waterloo were fined for infractions in 2009. For me the most interesting aspect was their failure to advise the public after learning three days after the fact that they had released untreated water into the Cambridge distribution system. Public trust is much easier lost than regained.