MORRISTON – A group of Puslinch residents are concerned after their water started smelling like rotting vegetables.
Susan Fielding has lived in her home in Fielding Lane south of the 401 for over 40 years. Nothing like this has happened before. She is concerned about the water and her safety.
About a week ago she noticed a smell coming from her tap water. She said it smelled like rotting potatoes.
She wasn’t alone. Her neighbour Julian Ganning had the same smell coming from her taps. Where Fielding and Ganning live in Puslinch they and their neighbours are all on private wells.
Fielding took to Facebook and posted in the group What’s Happening Puslinch to ask if anyone else had a strange smell in their water. People sent her messages saying they smell it too.
A couple weekends ago there was some torrential downpour. Fielding and some of her neighbours have chalked it up as a possible cause to the smell. Since there was so much rain it went through the ground so fast the dirt didn’t have a chance to filter it, she said.
“Soon after it started I took my water in to be tested just because I was worried about contamination,” said Fielding. Public health tested the water and it came back negative for coliform and bacteria.
After she received the results she hired a private well specialist to run other tests on the water. He recommended that she not drink the water. The specialist said the water might not be bad but it might be a nuisance smell.
Those impacted by the smell are in limbo waiting for answers.
Fielding has grandchildren and is concerned for them too. “Trying to kind of avoid them being here because I'm afraid to fill up the pool water,” she said.
Ganning has two children. Her youngest plugs his nose when he takes a shower. The eldest asked to go to a friend’s house so he could shower there. Her dog is drinking bottled water. When she has done laundry her clothes smell like the water too.
If the smell continues she is planning to live with a friend in Trenton for the summer.
Local water bottling company Blue Triton has donated a palette of bottled water to residents experiencing issues.
“Typically in Puslinch we have very pristine water because we have so many rocks and so on and the gravel pits, which acts as a real filter to the water and all around it's really great water usually,” said Fielding.
She has a tenant who is sensitive to the smell. So much so she experienced nausea and wears a mask to avoid the scent.
Fielding has contacted the Puslinch mayor so he is aware of the situation. If the smell continues she plans to contact the Hamilton Conservation Authority (HCA) since Puslinch is in Hamilton’s watershed, to warn them.
She sits on the HCA’s board of directors to represent Puslinch.
“Our whole life kind of revolves around the water that's coming into your house and that it's safe,” said Fielding.
“I've seen really firsthand how bad water can affect people,” she said. She referred to the E.coli contaminated water crisis in Walkerton in 2000.
She sat on the Halton-Hamilton source protection committee. Committees like the one she was a part of popped up around Ontario as a recommendation from the Walkerton public inquiry.
“None of us are scientists,” Fielding said. “We're just dealing with the water, but hopefully we can find a solution.”
Fielding encourages people on well water to be vigilant and get their water tested.
In her home she has a UV purification system to kill bacteria and viruses. She also has an iron filter. An odour isn’t something you can filter, she said.
“We’re as blindsided as anybody. We didn’t see this coming. We had good water,” Fielding said.
