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Date: Tue, 18 May 1999 17:22:40 -0700
To: toxicscaucus@onenw.org
From: Peter Ronald <impulse@islandnet.com>
Subject: TC: More on chlorination battle
Sender: owner-toxicscaucus@onenw.org
Reply-To: Peter Ronald <impulse@islandnet.com>
===== A message from the 'toxicscaucus' discussion list =====
>Date: Tue, 18 May 1999 16:54:52 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Russell Lahti <ruslahti@kootenay.com>
Subject: More on chlorination battle
Greetings:
For immediate release, the following is our latest press release:
PRESS RELEASE, 18 May 1999
MEDICAL HEALTH OFFICERS TURN UP THE HEAT IN KOOTENAY CHLORINATION DISPUTE:
LOCAL GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY vs HEALTH BUREAUCRATS
Medical Health Officers of the East Koonenay Community Health Services Society (EKCHSS)
have thrown down the gauntlet against the trustees of the Erickson Improvement District.
Two MHOs, accompanied by an RCMP officer, came to the the EID office in Erickson today to
issue a "ticket," charging the EID with failure to comply with their order to
chlorinate the Erickson water supply. In effect, that means that, unless the validity of
the ticket can be challenged, the EID will be fined $345.00 per day, every day until they
comply. More drastic action by the MHOs is also possible.
The three unsalaried trustees have now been firmly placed between the proverbial rock and
a hard place. They can comply only by getting an injunction against their friends and
neighbors who are manning a blockade preventing chlorination equipment and material from
getting to the water intake. If they don't comply, daily heavy fines will continue, and
heavier legal action against the District could ensue.
The people of Erickson, a small community of about 2000 residents in the Creston Valley of
the Central Kootenays, have been battling the official bureaucratic preference for
chlorine disinfection for several years, led at first by the EID trustees, and eventually
by the aroused water-users themselves. Although there have never been any serious
outbreaks of water-borne diseases in Erickson, with none apparent on the horizon, the MHOs
had warned the residents that they should boil their water before drinking it, and have
ordered the EID to chlorinate it. The residents have never objected to disinfection of the
water, but they have asked for one of the newer, non-polluting methods employed, rather
than chlorine.
The water users began meeting last year as an ad-hoc group with no organized structure.
Gradually, as the need became apparent for better organization, two different groups began
to take shape: One, opting for a higher-profile, action-oriented approach, is now called
the Water Action Group (WAG), while the other, pursuing the legal route to a judicial
review of the whole affair, has been incorporated as a non-profit society and is called
the Erickson Water Users Society (EWUS). WAG has been organizing the current blockade
(since 29 April), and EWUS has launched a court action against the Order to chlorinate.
That judicial review is scheduled to be heard in Nelson on the 22nd and 23rd of June this
year. EWUS is being represented in court by the Sierra Legal Defense Fund.
Contact:
Russell Lahti, Chaiman
Erickson Water Users Society
Phone: (250) 428-7829
ruslahti@kootenay.com
Peter Ronald ~ imPulse Communications
Tel: 250.361-3621 Fax: 250.361-3682
Email: impulse@islandnet.com
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