Friday, 22 January 2016

Water - Holland College Project


Travis Roach has lived in Prince Edward Island all his life. Living outside of Charlottetown, he understands how important water is to many Island residents.
The 23-year-old has a well in his backyard, which he relies on for his drinking water.
It's something he doesn't take for granted, he said.
"Many Islanders have wells in their backyards and if something were to happen to these wells, things could become tricky for many residents."
It's not uncommon to see the Holland College student bringing large bottles of water from his well.
"Our family makes sure we have enough water in our house. It's very important to save water and not to over use it while showering or brushing your teeth."
In recent years, there have been discussions about the possibility of fracking on Prince Edward Island. Other provinces such as Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have also spoke about fracking.
Andrew Lush is the manager of the Hunter-Clyde Water shed group. There are many risks to fracking, he said.
"There are thousands of cases where spills have got into the ground water, animals dying and people having sickness in the areas where there is fracking. It's not worth it."
In recent months, fracking has been the cause of earthquakes in Alberta and British Columbia. If fracking happened in the Atlantic Ocean or Northumberland Strait, it could still be a cause for concern for ground water, said Lush.
"Deep water aquifer is connected to across the whole of P.E.I. and in fact it's connected to Northern New Brunswick and Cape Breton as well, so we just don't know about what's going on down there."
Roach agrees that fracking is not something that should happen in P.E.I.
"There are too many risk factors concerning our ground water. For the little amount of jobs fracking would bring to P.E.I., it's just not worth the risk of having these get into our ground water."
As of 2012, there have been no leases for fracking on P.E.I., however that doesn't mean it couldn't happen, said Lush.
"A company could come and knock on the door, get a lease, convert that into a lease for testing and drilling and before you know it you have fracking."

Currently, there is not a ban on fracking on P.E.I.

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