Media Clipping — Friday, July 28, 2000, The Daily News, Halifax

Study: N.S. drinking water better, supply worse.

By The Daily News Staff

Nova Scotia's drinking water is improving, but the quality of the province's rivers, lakes and coastal waters is on the decling, according to a study released yesterday.

Between 1986 and 1996, there was a 29 per cent increase in Nova Scotians with access to drinking water that conformed to national standards, according to Genuine Progress Index Atlantic, a non-governmental group that prepared the 230-page report.

There was also a 16.7 per cent improvement in water complying with "aestehtic objectives," such as smell, taste and appearance, said Sara Wilson, the ecologist who did the study.

And from 1987 to 1998, there was a 3.2 per cent rise in community water samples free of coliform bacteria, said Williams [sic].

The $20,000 study looked at water from the province's 78 municipalities.

In 1996, two unidentified water supplies in Nova Scotia still contained levels of lead slightly higher than the national standard, and three per cent of water samples showed the presence of coliform bacteria.

Lead can impair the mental development of children, and coliform can cause gastrointestinal ailments, said Wilson.

Despite the overall increase in quality, more than a third of Nova Scotians don't trust their water, said Wilson.

About 18 per cent of households purchase bottled water for an estimated $265 a year, and 16 per cent use water filters, said Wilson.

That money would be better spent on protecting water supplies, she said.

The study estimates water provides more than $11 billion a year in resources to Nova Scotians. Those run from drinking water to waste treatment and erosion control.

But the loss of wetlands - which purify water, help protect against erosion, floods and storms - to developers is costing Nova Scotia an estimated $2.3 billion a year, said Wilson.

"We don't want to just put a price tag on things, we also want to look at physical indicators," she said.

"Unfortunately, it's kind of a step that has to be taken, because if we don't show that it has an economic implication, then it tends to be ignored."

Only 20 per cent of the province's salmon rivers still contain healthy stock due to acid rain, and since 1995, the number of brook trout caught in the province has dropped in half, according to the study.

One quarter of the lakes in metro are dying rapidly due to, among other things, fertilizer run-off, said Wilson

The report contains 15 recommendations to protect Nova Scotia's waters, including reducing toxic discharge, watershed protection, and sewage and water upgrades.

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