25 years have passed since Walkerton’s contaminated water tragedy, Ontario, almost killed his daughter, and Trudy Fraser still doesn’t feel comfortable drinking tap water.
“You lose that trust when you see people who know that they became ill and died,” he said. “That’s why I still drink bottled water. He stayed with us.”
Many in this city of 5,000 approximately 150 kilometers north of London, Ontario, vividly remember the effects of the Victoria Day weekend in 2000, when a massive storm washed water contaminated with mortal bacteria of E. coli from a nearby agricultural field in one of the wells that fed the Walkerton water supply.
Seven people died, 2,300 people became ill and followed an investigation, exposing how the financing cuts had declined the provincial supervision of drinking water.
The people who administered the city’s water system had not been properly trained, but the problem was beyond simple incompetence. Two water services employees, Stan and Frank Koebel, They were convicted On criminal charges after the investigation discovered that they regularly falsified evidence for chlorine levels. In addition, Stan Koebel, the water system manager, lied during the height of the crisis, telling public health officials that the water was safe to drink, despite the fact that the tests clearly showed the presence of the mortal bacteria.
Fraser’s daughter, Allyssa Schnurr, was 17 when she got sick in early June 2000. She became a lethargic and was taken to the hospital in Hanover, on the outskirts of Walkerton, where her family doctor worked.
Shortly after, it was taken urgently in ambulance to London, where it ended up remaining in intensive care for four weeks.
“It was terrifying,” Fraser told CBC News, reviving the heartbreaking days that passed by her daughter’s bed when the teenager underwent surgeries that save lives, dialysis and multiple blood transfusions.
“The doctors told me the day after she arrived there that I was probably not going to live,” said Fraser. “And all I could think was: ‘What am I going to tell you when I return to your room?’ Because I knew I was going to ask me what doctors said. “
Years later, health complications persist
The doctors were able to save Schnurr, who is now 42 years old and works as an accountant near Kitchener, Ontario.
When he got sick, Walkerton’s deaths had made international news, and knew that the infection could kill her.
“I remember having been on their way to London thinking: ‘Only really sick people go to London, so it must be really bad,” he said.
Although he survived, the complications of his illness persist.
Because an E. coli infection can lead to a condition that damages a person’s kidneys, Schnurr’s renal function is two thirds of its normal capacity. Take medications to control your blood pressure and your sodium consumption has to do. After a difficult pregnancy 13 years ago, she and her husband decided that it would be too risky to have a second child.
The scars and bad memories also continue to Bruce Richardson. He remembers his son, who was nine years old at the time of E. coli pollution, asking for his best friend after seeing the child taken to the hospital by air ambulance. His son had been playing with the child the day before.
“My son asked me if his friend was going to die, and I didn’t have an answer for him,” Richardson said. “There was no person in the city that was not affected.”
‘We drink the water completely by sitting’
In the weeks after the tragedy, Richardson helped form the group referred to by the citizens of Walkerton, whose members promoted a judicial investigation on what happened. At that time, the conservative government of Mike Harris of Ontario was under fire to reduce water tests and wanted to carry out a legislative investigation, which would have meant that the people involved in allowing water tests to become so laxas would also be the ones that investigated what happened, Richardson said.
After his defense, the government gave up and called on the higher level investigation.
“We drink the water completely,” he said about government failures to ensure that drinking water was safe. “We do not take the basic steps of the protection of the fountain to ensure that this well was correctly monitored.”
What has changed
Water monitoring has improved in much of the province, partly due to the recommendations derived from the judicial investigation directed by Judge Dennis O’Connor. The new legislation includes stricter rules to test drinking water and how to protect the wells from groundwater infiltration.
And training for people working in water systems is now also improved, due in part to the creation of the Walkerton clean water center, one of the recommendations that came out of the investigation. The avant -garde installation conducts research on water tests and enables people from all over Canada who work in drinking water systems.
“We have treatment, we have distribution, we have laboratory facilities,” said the CEO of the center, Brian Bates. “Everything that an operator touched, we can train them.”
However, the safety of drinking water in Ontario It is still a source of concern. In March, the General Auditor of the Province warned That the water systems not administered by the municipalities, such as those of rural areas and in private property, are not yet tested with sufficient regularity.
Meanwhile, Walkerton residents continue to face stigma.
Many of the most affected denied politely to talk to CBC News for this story, and some said they preferred to leave what happened 25 years ago in the past. Fraser remembers how his son mocked about Walkerton while playing hockey against neighboring cities teams.
But Chris Peabody, the mayor of Brockton, the municipality that includes Walkerton, said the city has gone through a renewal period.
Peabody said in the years immediately after the contaminated water scandal, the city growth was leveled. But when Walkerton needed a hotel to stimulate growth and access to financing, it was difficult, some members of the community group their money to build it, Peabody said. That best Western has sold to another operator and has expanded its size because it is very busy.
“What people should know about Walkerton is that it is a story of resilience,” Peabody said. “The city was pushed at the lowest possible level … and people did not turn to each other. They worked together and rebuilt the city.”
This week, Brockton Council was divided on how to mark the 25th anniversary of the contamination of E. coli in Walkerton and the domino effect it had on the city. Some felt that there should be a meeting to mark what happened, while others firmly discussed against that.
“Many were traumatized by this and do not want to revive it, and causes very bad memories,” Peabody said. “The divisions in the Walkerton Council reflect divisions in the city.”
In the end, the city opted for a discreet approach. The Walkerton Clean Water Center will organize tours. A commemorative garden built shortly after the tragedy to honor its victims will receive some improvements.
Fraser, who was so close to losing his daughter during that dark spring, offers regularly attending to the Garden memorial. During a Mother’s Day meeting with the family last weekend, he shared videos and newspaper clippings of what happened with a curious granddaughter who would not have done it if Schnurr had not been saved.
“Do not forget it,” said Fraser. “You simply learn to live with him and move on. You don’t stop at that. But it’s always there.”
