Valley Verde homeowners worry about trickle-down effect from individual wells

 

The Hwy 5 extension project in Wakefield has been officially approved, but the news is making some Vallee Verde Road homeowners nervous about the Ministry of Transport (MTQ) not following through on promises it made concerning water supply flow and quality.

The four homes on Valle Verde Road, across from the Jean Burger restaurant on Hwy 105, are currently hooked up to a communal well that the residents have called “un-emptyable.”

But with the Highway coming so close to this so-called “super well,” the MTQ is decommissioning it, as it may become contaminated when highway construction crews resume blasting operations. The MTQ agreed to drill four replacement wells for each home, and they did so last summer. Now, the homeowners are getting mixed messages.

“The (well) drillers said there is water (in the new wells), but just that there is not enough there,” said Lawrence Keyte, one of the homeowners. “We signed contracts that were very specific on water quality and quantity. Now, they are telling us that the wells meet provincial standards.”

To date, the homeowners have seen no water quality reports and have no explanation as to why the ministry has said the water is good when drillers have said the contrary.

Furthermore, the federal environmental assessment (EA) conducted in 2010 stipulates that no construction would begin until all four homes had running water from their  individual wells. However, no one is yet hooked up and construction could be a week away.

The document states: “Four new potable water supply sources will be operative before the construction begins to ensure a continuous supply of water of sufficient quality and quantity to homes currently supplied by Well 21.”

Jason Barton is another nervous Valle Verde resident who is concerned that the MTQ has said the water flow on the new wells is sufficient. Even though he’s confident the MTQ is treating residents’ worries seriously, he won’t be at ease until he sees the water flow.

“Until I have proof of what the well provides, I’m going to be nervous,” Barton said. “I’m not losing sleep over it, but it is added stress.”

The MTQ contacted the Low Down Feb. 3 with news of the final approval handed down from the province’s environment ministry, but wouldn’t elaborate on the Vallee Verde Wells situation, saying only that “all authorizations have been obtained to begin works and the MTQ will ensure a continuous supply of quality drinking water for the concerned residences.”

With the MTQ seemingly not living up to its promises made in the EA, it makes Save Our Spring Chairman Peter Andree concerned that the promises the ministry made to SOS about monitoring the Valley Drive spring, a popular source of drinking water for thousands of users year round, may also fall by the wayside.

“It raises deeper concerns over how closely they are going to follow the wording in their glitzy formal documents,” Andree told the Low Down, adding that SOS is no longer fighting the Hwy 5 construction battle and is now focused on monitoring the spring to ensure it is not contaminated.

If the “super well” on Vallee Verde is contaminated, Keyte and others are concerned that the Wakefield spring will also be contaminated. It’s thought that the two water sources may be linked by a common aquifer. Meanwhile, Andree is confident that the Vallee Verde Aquifer is separate from the Valley Drive watershed, which is thought to feed the spring.

“At the SOS meeting with the MTQ in September, it was suggested by the MTQ’s chief hydrologist Daniel Soucy that the dry wells on Valle Verde Road are actually evidence that the Valle Verde aquifer, which all continue to recognize as ‘at risk’ from the blasting to come, is not connected to the Wakefield Spring. Rather, these dry wells show that the Valle Verde watershed is quite separate from the Valley Drive watershed.”

The construction contract for phase two of the Hwy 5 extension project was awarded Feb. 2 to Couillard Construction for a total of $61 million. Work should begin in the coming weeks.

Protest group prepared to go out on a limb to save trees

 

The news of the planned Hwy 5 extension to Wakefield getting the green light from the province’s ministry of environment (MDDEP) isn’t a red light for protesters who have been calling for a redesign and a halt to the La Peche segment of the project. It isn’t a nail in their coffin, either.

According to Jean Paul Murray, chair of the Gatineau Park Protection Committee, there are about 30 people prepared to climb a 300-year-old white pine tree to protest workers  cutting it down. Other protesters are making signs and raising awareness about the damage such a project will cause vis-a-vis the picturesque Hills landscape at Wakefield.

“It’s all about rethinking the design,” said Anne Winship, a member of the grass roots protest group, A5X. “We’re not anti-highway. We’re just trying to work with people.”

The siruation could intensify when tree-cutters begin to clear the way through the forest, only to find tree-sitters who won’t climb down to make way for the advancing chainsaws. Wakefield councillor Louis Rompre has made a request that the felled timber be used for  projects in the village. Thus far, there has been no response.

The A5X group isn’t giving up hope. It will hold open house events at their Occupy camp just off Brown Lake Road and it is training more citizens in civil disobedience, including tree-climbing.

For more information or to get involved, visit the website at www.a5x.org.

Tagged as: 5, A-5, A-5 extension, A5X, Autoroute 5, Highway, Hwy 5, Qc, Que, Quebec, Trevor Greenway, Wakefield