Environment critic blames mismanagement for water supply problems
Posted May 22, 2014 07:55:51 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Nova Scotia’s acting auditor general said the Environment Department is doing a poor job of monitoring some drinking water supplies to ensure public safety in a report released yesterday.
Alan Horgan said municipal facilities are generally audited every three years as required, but so-called registered facilities are not.
These 1,600 registered water supplies are typically used by restaurants, apartments, campgrounds, schools and nursing homes.
Progressive Conservative environment critic Karla MacFarlane told News 95.7 she believes limited guidance of inspectors caused by mismanagement at the Department of Environment is leading to inconsistencies.
“What we found is that some inspectors do not examine supporting documents to verify the issues that are addressed from previous tests,” said MacFarlane. “There’s a lot of inconsistencies in how inspectors carry out their audit work.”
MacFarlane added she’d like to see the government act immediately.
“Clean water is essential, it is our most important natural resource,” said MacFarlane.
The report made 19 recommendations to fix the problems, which environment minister Randy Delorey said he has accepted.
