Workers found a nasty surprise when they arrived at the well construction site in the RM of Argyle on October 29. Someone had poured motor oil into both wells.
Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship reported the findings to the municipal office and emailed a photo of the damage. “All you could see is two well pipes and some black sticky stuff sticking to the casing,” said Reeve Daniel Martens in an interview.
Provincial crews arrived quickly and managed to remove the oil before it mixed in with the water supply. They decommissioned the five-inch well but got an eight-inch one going again after careful cleaning.
Read Also
AgriStability enrolment deadline extended
The deadline for Manitoba farmers to enroll in the AgriStability business risk management program has been extended by three months agriculture minister Ron Kostyshyn announced on Friday.
The wells, located along a fence in the ditch beside an undeveloped road allowance, draw from an aquifer previously only used by area farmers and residents. They are being developed to eventually supply the town of Pilot Mound.
The water had not been distributed or consumed and the question of who dumped the oil is still under investigation. Martens said the water has never been tampered with in the past. But he said it’s clear this was not an accident.
“Somebody definitely knew what they were doing. They had to know what they were doing because they pretty much cut the top off one of the wells.”
Martens said the project has been controversial in the community.
“It’s an unpopular thing down there because there’s only so much water in that aquifer,” he said.
The aquifer relies on rain and snow for recharge. Some residents remember when it ran dry in the ’80s. People had to find water elsewhere and farmers weren’t able to irrigate their crops.
Many are concerned history could repeat itself — particularly since once the wells are up the reservoir will be supplying around 700 extra people.
People are also upset at the lack of consultation. “As far as we’re concerned it was done kind of shadily by Water Stewardship and the town of Pilot Mound.”
He said the RM received a letter saying the province was going to explore for water, but the municipality was not consulted or informed about the public hearings in time to attend.
“They sure in the hell didn’t come over here and advertise where they’re taking the water from so we knew nothing about it,” he said.
A group of residents hired a lawyer to look into appealing the construction but were told they wouldn’t achieve much, aside from delaying the project, since they had missed the appeal dates. So the RM of Argyle and several residents in the area have written to the province ombudsman.
“It’s sure got people fired up around here,” said Martens. Still, he is surprised that someone would go so far as to dump contaminants down into the well.
“I know most of the people so it’s hard to believe somebody’s done that kind of thing,” said Martens. “It’s the wrong way to go about things, but everyone’s got their own mind I guess.”
An investigation is currently underway and RCMP are encouraging people to come forward with information by either contacting the Killarney RCMP at 204-523-4820 or, if they wish to remain anonymous, can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
