Save Our Spring (SOS) Wakefield

By Madeline Kerr

The Wakefield spring has been under a boil water advisory for nearly three straight months, and a newly formed group of concerned residents is sending up an SOS to protect the village’s iconic water source. 

The advisory to boil water collected from the Wakefield spring, located on Chemin de la Vallée-de-Wakefield, has been in place since June 9. Boil water advisories are put in place when test results show the coliform level is too high, based on provincial regulations. Coliforms are bacteria present in animals and humans, including their waste.

Multiple consecutive tests and approval from the Ministry for the Environment are required before an advisory can be lifted. 

La Pêche Mayor Guillaume Lamoureux confirmed that boil water advisories for the Wakefield spring have been occurring more frequently and lasting longer than in years past.

A number of local residents have already picked up on this, and a group calling themselves Source Wakefield Spring has formed to “protect the spring to make sure it remains viable and safe for the community,” according to group member Bettina Koschade. Source Wakefield Spring is formed of about eight residents (“more are always welcome,” Koschade said).

“If there’s a boil water advisory, it means there are concerns for people’s health who drink that water…whatever the source of the problem is, it needs to be explored, and the spring needs to be protected so this doesn’t continue,” Koschade recently told the Low Down.  

According to Koschade, a study conducted about 10 years ago by another residents’ group, Save Our Spring (SOS) Wakefield, showed that up to 8,000 people rely on the water from the spring for regular or occasional use.  

“The spring is an asset for our community,” Koschade asserted. “We need to make sure we can keep using it.” 

At a council meeting on Aug. 18, in response to a question about the spring, Mayor Lamoureux said that the municipality does not know what is causing the increasing number of advisories. He explained that, while it could indicate more regular contamination, it could also have to do with the sensitivity of the tests being used.

Source Wakefield Spring has been collaborating with H20Wakefield, another group of concerned residents, who have been conducting surveys on local wells and advocating for the creation of a municipal water policy. 

The two groups also share a concern about the impact that development is having on the quality and supply of water in the village. 

Developments raise concern

One development, planned for the corner of Chemin Rockhurst and Hwy 105, has caught some residents’ attention, specifically for its proximity to what some believe is the catchment area for the Wakefield spring. 

Vice-president of design and construction at the development firm Devcore, Philippe Goulin, confirmed that his company is planning to build two duplexes on plots of land directly north of Chemin Rockhurst, and that these buildings will use individual drilled wells. He said that Devcore is waiting for final permits from the municipality but anticipates it will be able to start breaking ground in just a few weeks. 

Goulin said that Devcore’s environmental assessment of the land, conducted in 2022, “doesn’t indicate that we’re going to be in any way affecting or drawing down the underground water table,” adding, “we’re satisfied that it works, and I assume the municipality is as well.” 

Mayor Lamoureux told the Low Down that the Devcore duplexes will be located approximately 700 metres from the zone of protection that is currently enforced around the Wakefield spring. That protection zone, established in 2013 after concerned citizens raised the alarm about water contamination during the extension of Hwy 5, is centered around the spring’s collection point on Chemin de la Vallée-de-Wakefield.  

Lamoureux added that the municipality suspects that the pipe that funnels the spring’s water is located to the north of the collection point. He confirmed that the municipality will be conducting an inspection this month to locate exactly where the funnelling begins in order to create a more precise protection zone. 

Still, he added, the Devcore properties are far enough away to not pose a problem.  

Cumulative impact

For Koschade and Source Wakefield Spring, the issue is not necessarily the impact of one or two developments but the cumulative effect that a growing number of homes will have on the village’s water supply. 

Nancy Baker, a member of H20Wakefield, told the Low Down that although there is a provincial database of wells in Quebec, the information is old and incomplete. 

“When the municipality gives a permit for a well, they have no idea how many wells are in that area; they have no idea if there will be any impact on the neighbours’ wells,” Baker asserted. “The information they are using to issue permits is just inadequate.”

Baker said she fears that, unless La Pêche develops a specific water policy, the cumulative impact of development will hurt the quality and quantity of water throughout the municipality, including the water that feeds the Wakefield spring. 

Both Baker and Koschade said they feel the mayor is taking their concerns seriously and that the municipality is willing to work collaboratively to find solutions. 

Source Wakefield Spring and H20Wakefield will be hosting a public meeting at 7 p.m on Sept. 10 at Biblio Wakefield to give some background information and address residents’ concerns about the Wakefield spring. Mayor Lamoureux will be present to answer questions on behalf of the municipality.