August 19, 2017
Ontario

Well water advocacy group blockades wind turbine sites in Chatham-Kent

CBC News | Posted: Aug 17, 2017 | www.cbc.ca

A group of frustrated farmers blockaded three construction sites in Chatham-Kent Thursday to protest provincial inaction on pile driving that they claim is pushing bits of sediment into their drinking water.

Members of Water Wells First parked farm equipment in front of locations on Country View and Oldfield Lines around 7 a.m.

“The people here in the community just feel like they’re sitting like guinea pigs, waiting to be plucked out and experimented on,” said spokesperson Kevin Jakubec. “The tensions are boiling over here.”

The group blames the ongoing work at the North Kent Wind project for leeching sand, silt and fragments of black shale and accused Ontario’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change of ignoring their evidence.

In a statement, ministry spokesperson Gary Wheeler said the government takes water quality concerns “very seriously” and has imposed several conditions on pile driving companies, including vibration monitoring.

“Well water quality testing prior to wind turbine construction shows that turbidity in the wells is associated with naturally occurring groundwater conditions,” wrote Wheeler, adding the company will continue to monitor water quality and vibrations as the project continues.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2017/08/19/well-water-advocacy-group-blockades-wind-turbine-sites-in-chatham-kent/