Water Local official says premier made commitment to take another look at issue of payment

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Tammy Scott-Wallace
Telegraph-Journal

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PENOBSQUIS - A small crowd chanted quietly, placards in hand, reminding Premier Shawn Graham that there is still unfinished business regarding the new water system that dignitaries gathered to announce on Tuesday morning.

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Tammy Scott-Wallace/Telegraph-Journal

The sod was turned on the $9.3-million Penobsquis regional water supply Tuesday, a big step in ending the five-year wait for residents who have been without water. Above, from left, marking the start of construction are Saint John East MLA Roly MacIntyre, former minister responsible for the Regional Development Corporation; Local Government Minister Carmel Robichaud, Premier Shawn Graham, Fundy Royal MP Rob Moore, Kings East Conservative MLA Bruce Northrup and Tourism Minister Stuart Jamieson.

"Province gets royalties, Penobsquis gets the shaft," one protester's sign read, referring to the millions of dollars in royalties the province gets from natural gas and potash resources in their one-quiet community.

After five agonizing years, the 52 families that have been living without water in Penobsquis are thrilled they can plan on a new, healthy supply by the end of the year.

They are outraged, however, that while before they had their own private wells, now they will pay user fees. They believe intrusion by big industry caused their wells to dry up.

Chris Bell said the user-fee issue is a contentious one, and is what drew dozens of people from the small community out for the premier's press conference at the Penobsquis Fire Hall.

The local service district advisory committee for Cardwell, which Bell chairs, was given a private meeting with Graham, Local Government Minister Carmel Robichaud and other government officials and staffers following the announcement.

While reporters were not permitted inside, Bell said the premier was asked to reconsider the user fees so the people of the community are not further punished for a water problem they didn't create. The amount of the user fees is not even known yet even though construction on the new water system has started.

"I would say the premier didn't give us an answer, but at least he said they were willing to go back to Fredericton and take another look at it," Bell said. "There is no way the premier or the minister of local government left here today unaware of the predicament the people of Penobsquis and Cardwell are in, and what they have had to live with the past five years.

"Their big thing is they don't want to set a precedent with user fees in the province but the Penobsquis area is different. The situation here isn't the same as anywhere else in the province," she added.

"People in Penobsquis had water and it has been taken away from them, not by something they did, but taken away by another factor. This used to be a rural community that has now been industrialized, and the people living here have paid the price for that for way too long."

Graham told the media and community the focus of the day was to celebrate the beginning of construction of the $9.3-million regional water project for Penobsquis. Work installing 12 kilometres of water pipeline began last month to connect homes to a Springdale well about six kilometres away from affected homes. A well house to chlorinate the new supply and an above-ground storage reservoir will also be built at the well site.

"Healthy water should be a reality this year," the premier said, adding while the process to secure the system was long, finding the proper quality and quantity of water was crucial.

"Today's milestone event is an important day for residents of Penobsquis," Graham said. "Our government is committed to working with communities to ensure safe and adequate community infrastructure for all New Brunswickers, including residents of Penobsquis."

The federal government is contributing nearly $7.8 million to the project and the province $205,000 under the Canada-New Brunswick Agreement on the Transfer of Federal Gas Tax Revenues and the Provincial Gas Tax Transfer Top-up Fund. The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (PotashCorp) is contributing $1.3 million to the total $9.3-million project.

Fundy Royal MP Rob Moore said the Penobsquis infrastructure announcement is the largest he has made in four years as a member of Parliament.

"For too long, residents of Penobsquis have been without access to safe drinking water," Moore said. "The wait is almost over. We know this has been a long time coming. Most people can only imagine the difficulties you have faced."

For the past five years, wells have been drying up in Penobsquis. Some people put out thousands of dollars for new wells to no avail.

Since then the province has been paying for regular deliveries of water to basement storage tanks, and PotashCorp pays for bottled drinking water. That arrangement will continue until the new system is up and running.