Harrietsfield residents still waiting for safe drinking water

After years of waiting for safe drinking water, Harrietsfield residents had their hopes lifted in November, but have been waiting ever since.

Citing “immediate concerns” in November, Environment Minister Margaret Miller said the province and Halifax Regional Municipality would get water filtration systems to eight households. But the tender for the equipment and installation has yet to be issued and there’s no timeline for when they will be installed.

READ MORE: Harrietsfield water concerns ‘not a great state of affairs’: MP

The government says the eight households have unsafe levels of toxins in their well water linked to a defunct recycling and demolition plant. For more than a decade, residents have been struggling with rising levels of toxins with little concrete action taken to address the problem.

When the government announced the purification systems, long-time advocate Marlene Brown said she had “hope” but the delays since then have left her deflated.

“I am so disappointed, I’m appalled really that this has gone on for so long,” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I am so disappointed, I'm appalled really that this has gone on for so long," she said.

Brown said she thought that when the government announced the plan, swift action would be taken to follow through. She said she’s no longer “holding her breath” for any action.

READ MORE: Advocacy group using social media to highlight Harrietsfield water issues

Miller was not available for an interview with Global News.

An emailed statement from department spokesperson Heather Fairbairn said the government is “working to finalize a tender document” to purchase water treatment systems and the follow up water sampling for the eight homes.

A tender for the filtration systems “should” be posted in January, Fairbairn said.

‘Clear impacts on the water’

The level of toxins found in the wells varies from well to well, but Brown says monitoring on her water has found unsafe levels of arsenic, uranium, lead, iron and more.

Some of the chemicals are naturally occurring in the ground water, but a government document obtained by Ecojustice says that the heightened levels of some chemicals is linked to the RDM plant.

“There are clear impacts on the water on the site, and down gradient from the site, that generally don’t occur upgradient,” reads the email from 2015.

And in November, Miller confirmed that at least eight homes are “contaminated by the runoff, or leachate, from the site.”

‘The compassion, the caring, it’s not there’: Brown

Brown says she’s prepared to hold more rallies in the spring if the government doesn’t act on its promise to install water systems.

“They’ve acknowledged (the problem) but that’s as far as it’s gone, the compassion, the caring, it’s not there,” Brown said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "They've acknowledged (the problem) but that's as far as it's gone, the compassion, the caring, it's not there," Brown said.

Two numbered companies are named in ministerial clean-up orders for the site. Both appealed the orders in court. In one case, Ecojustice lawyer Kaitlyn Mitchell said the courts dismissed the appeal. But the appeal for the company linked to the Municipal Group of Companies was heard in November and a judgement is expected in the new year.