Walkerton Tragedy

The Walkerton Tragedy is a series of events that accompanied the contamination of the water supply of Walkerton, Ontario, Canada, by E. coli bacteria in May 2000.

Summary

The water supply for the town of Walkerton was operated by the Walkerton Public Utilities Commission, with Stan Koebel as manager and Frank Koebel as water foreman. Neither had any formal training in their position, retaining their jobs through three decades of on-the-job experience. The water supply became contaminated with the highly dangerous strain of "E. coli" bacteria, from farm runoff into an adjacent well that was known for years to be vulnerable to contamination. Starting May 15, 2000, many residents of the town of about 5,000 began to simultaneously experience bloody diarrhea, gastrointestinal infections and other symptoms of E. coli infection. For days the Walkerton Public Utilities Commission insisted the water supply was "OK" despite being in possession of laboratory tests that had found evidence of contamination. On May 21, an escalation in the number of patients with similar symptoms finally spurred the region's Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Murray McQuigge, to issue a boil water advisory, warning residents not to drink the water.

At least seven people died directly from drinking the E. coli contaminated water, and about 2,500 became ill.

During the time of the Tragedy, both Stan and Frank Koebel denied any wrongdoing and firmly held that the water at Walkerton was safe to drink. However, as the Tragedy grew in severity the two were eventually part of the criminal investigation into the Tragedy, and, as a result, both would eventually plead guilty to a charge of common nuisance through a plea bargain. In their plea, they admitted to falsifying reports and Frank admitted to drinking on the job, though a beer fridge did exist at the facility.

They were both formally sentenced on December 21, 2004, with Stan receiving a year in jail and Frank nine months of house arrest. Reaction to their sentencing was mixed. Some felt it was justice served, while others believed they were merely scapegoats.

Aftermath

The Ontario Clean Water Agency was put in charge of the cleanup of Walkerton's water system.

An inquiry, known as the Walkerton Commission led by Ontario Court of Appeal Associate Chief Justice Dennis O'Connor, reported in 2002. The "Part 1" report, released in January 2002, estimated that the Walkerton water tragedy cost a minimum of $64.5-155 million CAD and laid much of the blame at the door of the Walkerton Public Utilities Commission.

From the report:

:"For years, the Walkerton Public Utilities Commission operators engaged in a host of improper operating practices, including failing to use adequate doses of chlorine, failing to monitor chlorine residuals daily, making false entries about residuals in daily operating records, and misstating the locations at which microbiological samples were taken. The operators knew that these practices were unacceptable and contrary to Ministry of Environment guidelines and directives."

The Ontario government was also blamed for not regulating water quality and not enforcing the guidelines that had been in place.

The "Part 2" report made many recommendations for improving the quality of water and public health in Ontario. All of its recommendations have been accepted by succeeding governments of the province. The recommendations have also influenced provincial policies across Canada.

Key recommendations touched on source water protection, the training and certification of operators, a quality management system for water suppliers, and more competent enforcement. In Ontario, these requirements have been incorporated into new legislation.

For an in-depth account of the tragedy, see (McClelland & Stewart 2002) by Colin N. Perkel.

The many lessons learned from this incident were described by Kim Vicente in his book "The Human Factor".

A 2005 CBC Television docu-drama called "Betrayed" was based loosely upon the Walkerton tragedy.

In 2001 a similar outbreak in North Battleford, Saskatchewan caused by the protozoan "Cryptosporidium" affected at least 5,800 people.

External links

* [http://www.diemer.ca/Docs/Diemer-Contamination.htm. Contamination: The Poisonous Legacy of Ontario's Environmental Cutbacks.] History and context of the tragedy.
* [http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/walkerton/ Background article] from the CBC
* [http://www.iwaponline.com/wst/04703/wst047030001.htm Water Science and Technology article]
* [http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-70-1672/disasters_tragedies/walkerton/ CBC Digital Archives - Death on t
]
* [http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/about/pubs/walkerton The Walkerton Commission Reports]