A business in New Bothwell has been singled out for drawing more well-water than legally allowed. Several residences in that community have had trouble with their wells this spring and summer and it appears this could be partially linked to Bothwell Cheese.
In mid-June, there were rumours circulating around New Bothwell that wells were running dry. These accusations were being made around the same time that the Town of Niverville began using its new water system. However, a statement by Friesen Drillers quickly dispelled the rumours. On June 15, 2018, Jeff Bell an Engineer for Friesen Drillers stated the aquifer had not run dry.
Bell explained the Manitoba Water Services Board was approached by the Town of Niverville a number of years ago to develop a new water supply. A Friesen Drillers report from July 2017 names Bothwell Cheese as being in non-compliance with water usage. The purpose of the Proposed Municipal Groundwater Supply Town of Niverville report was to undertake a hydrogeological assessment of a proposed municipal groundwater supply for the Town. The report states that by 2012, Bothwell Cheese was exceeding its maximum allocation of the aquifer annually and that by 2016, water use may have been as high as two times the reported values. The report read, "It is highly evident that the drawdown from the cheese plant is overpowering the drawdown created from the Niverville test."
According to this report, staff from Bothwell Cheese were contacted by the Niverville project team, were aware of the non-compliance and were implementing a water management plan to come back within compliance under their license with their consultant. The report says Bothwell Cheese is taking precautions to ensure responsible aquifer management and that increased water efficiency measures are being developed in order to reduce facility water use.
The report also says that based on industry benchmarks, their consultant estimates Bothwell Cheese may achieve about a 40 per cent reduction in water use per unit production. And that Bothwell Cheese is also considering future options for obtaining water. Options could include pursuing an agreement with the Town of Niverville which would allow the company to pipe water from the source to the facility or applying for and implementing a new well in the underlying sandstone aquifer.
When contacted by Steinbachonline.com, a spokesperson for Bothwell Cheese stated the company has no comment on this issue.
Regarding the rumours that Niverville is to blame for New Bothwell's water issues, Bell says the location for the well field was selected following hydrogeology research. Part of this process involved public consultation through Landmark Planning, who went out and attempted to talk to everybody in the surrounding area. Bell says consultations were done within six square miles. He adds they did a private well inventory of everybody that would talk to them, within two miles of the proposed well. This included nearly the entire community of New Bothwell.
Further to that, Bell said in spring that water levels in the southeast are down this year, the result of our climate the last six months. In fact, Bell said water levels in the southeast were at their lowest marks in four or five years. However, he said there was still a lot of water to draw from. As a result, Bell suggested individual pumping systems might need to be modified to adapt to the changes in water levels.
On June 29, 2018, the RM of Hanover and Town of Niverville issued a joint statement. Together, they reported the two parties had been working in partnership with Manitoba Water Services Board and their consultants in response to reports of private well water issues in the community of New Bothwell. By then, six reports were formally registered and all were individually investigated. Of the six, only two were able to be investigated, as the remainder of the wells were buried in yard sites, and could not be located. The problematic water wells were attributed to the individual pumping setups in each well.
Then on July 24, 2018, another joint statement from Hanover and Niverville stated an additional eight reports had been formally registered. According to the statement, the Manitoba Water Services Board, after commissioning a well interference investigation, had concluded that the current private well issues in New Bothwell were not related to the Town of Niverville water supply, located one mile from New Bothwell. The monitoring data concluded that the interferences in New Bothwell were directly related to another licensed groundwater user, located within the community of New Bothwell.
Read More:
More Water Concerns In New Bothwell
Mon, May 13, 9:30 AM
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