By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

The town of Dunham is rethinking its water strategy after facing a second exceptionally dry summer in four years.

“Everything is dry everywhere – this is unprecedented,” mayor Pierre Janecek told the BCN late last week. “We saw something like it three years ago, but even then there was water on the bottom of the stream [beds]. There’s nothing whatsoever, even in the big streams that irrigate the farmland. Even in the Yamaska River, you can see the rocks at the bottom. It’s nothing to laugh at.”

Speaking on the eve of Labour Day weekend, he said the town had not received significant rain for at least a month, and that summer heat waves had exacerbated the problem. He said several local businesses and farms have had to have water reserves trucked in; others have asked to use untreated water from Lake Selby for things like handwashing and keeping toilets operational. 

Dunham doesn’t have a water treatment plant, and water from the lake is not safe to drink. The town of 3,600 people is entirely reliant on well water, and on trucking in water when well water becomes insufficient. “In the long term, we’ll eventually need a water network, but we don’t know if citizens want to pay for that,” Janecek said. “A water network or a reservoir, these are things we can envision, but there will be a lot of logistics involved. If a bunch of towns are in the same situation as us, we can get grants and organize something. We’re going to need to do it at some point.”

Along with Sutton, Brome Lake and Frelighsburg, Dunham introduced water conservation guidelines – stopping short of outright restrictions  – this summer, discouraging residents from washing their cars, filling pools and watering their lawns. “We did remind people to be mindful of water use – it’s our blue gold, but it’s their responsibility,” said Janecek. His counterpart in Frelighsburg, Lucie Dagenais, said residents were being asked to “show good citizenship and wait to wash their cars until after we’ve had some rain.”

In Frelighsburg, the centre of the village is served by a water network, but most people are reliant on well water, and the town provides untreated water for cooking and washing in emergencies. Dagenais said the town received fewer requests for emergency water than during the 2022 drought, but in the interim, many people have had deeper wells dug and become more aware of water saving strategies. “We are not worried about the water table in our area, we’re privileged, but everywhere in Quebec, a lot of water goes to waste,” she said. “We need to do more to protect our reservoirs and wetlands.” 

“Back in the spring, we had so much rain we could have grown rice, and now – nothing,” Janecek observed. “It’s like nature is flipped upside down. This is the direction we’re going in.”