Province to tackle Harrietsfield water problems

The Nova Scotia Environment Department is offering a small measure of relief to homeowners in the Halifax suburb of Harrietsfield whose well water has been contaminated by run-off from a former salvage yard.

The problem has plagued people living around the old RDM recycling site for more than a decade.

On Tuesday, the province announced it was paying for the installation of water purification systems in eight homes most affected by the run-off. No timeline or price tag was attached to the offer.

"I don't think it's the solution, I think it's part of the solution," Brendan Maguire, the Liberal MLA for the Harrietsfield area said at a news conference announcing the program.

"It's not the do-all to end all. We still have to go through a judicial process."

RDM ordered to clean up site

The environment department has issued ministerial orders to the owners of the RDM site, telling them to clean it up. That clean-up is estimated to cost more than $10 million. The owners have been fighting the ministerial order in court. The case returns to court later this month.

"This is no different than a lot of the other injustices that we've seen in our province, whether it's the School for Coloured Children, whether it's Boat Harbour," Environment Minister Margaret Miller said during her announcement.

"These are all things where we've saw that something was wrong and now we're rectifying it and we're doing it in this case as well."

A long struggle

For the residents, the province's announcement is long overdue.

"We're grateful that they're going to help us out but there's a lot more people than just those eight houses," said homeowner Marlene Brown.

Brown said when people first started noticing problems with their water, there were more than 40 homes. She saidthat number dwindled to 18 over the years, and now they're only talking about the eight.

Homeowner filed for bankruptcy

Melissa King no longer lives in her home in Harrietsfield, which is among the eight properties included in the provincial offer.

"I filed for bankruptcy and attempted to foreclose on my home almost two years ago," King wrote in a statement to CBC News.

"To date, the bank has expressed no interested in taking possession of my home."

King said she worried about the health of her young child and couldn't afford the huge price tag for installing and maintaining a water purification system.

Safe, clean water

Halifax Regional Municipality is being asked to cover the cost of maintaining the systems that the province will purchase and install.

Councillor Steve Adams made the pitch to city council today for the cost-sharing.

"This particular process today is separate from any of the other entities," Adams said.

"It's not to lay blame on anybody it's just to help people get safe, clean drinking water."