Our Awareness of Water Deepens

Next to heating systems, renovations and gardening, water is one of the most-talked-about subjects here in rural Nova Scotia.

The well cap was reshingled this week.

We have an enormous dug well on our land. It is 7′ x 9′ and 18 feet deep. The first 10′ is concrete and the rest is built from large, cut granite slabs. It is always full to the brim and is spring fed. However, we’ve had the water tested twice, months apart, and it has coliform bacteria in it. Not e-coli. It could be from decomposing leaves and or insects and it may not be a big deal. After all, the previous owner who lived here from 1933 is still going strong, has fantastic recall, and is turning 101 this month. We may even have the fountain of youth on the property.

Larry holds the end of the water pumping device.

Still, as city folks, the failed tests are something to worry about. After surveying 1/2 of Bear River, Larry decided to take action and clean the well. Our friend Robbie coached Larry through the project.

The steps were:

1. rent a pump and pump all the well water into the empty pond.

The pumping and cleaning stirred up lots of clay and iron.

2. put 2 big ladders down the well.

Look at the clay footprints on the ladder!

3. climb into the well and spray the walls with bleach.

4. rent a sprayer and blast away the built up organisms on the well walls using water from the second, seldom-used well.

The sprayer depended on water from a second, shallow well.

The original, second well is a thing of beauty inside.

5. pump the bleached water out of the well.

6. shovel several buckets of sludge out of the well.

The mystery question is: did someone put clay into the bottom of the well as a strainer, or is that 'sludge' from years and years of decomposing insects and water organisms?

7. spray more water.

8. remove ladders.

9. pump out last of water.

The old metal pipe has a new plastic pipe fed into it that actually hovers about 3 feet above the bottom of the well.

10. cross fingers and hope the water comes back.

They say that renovations can cause a lot of stress in a relationship. It’s right up there with moving and changing jobs. The fellow who built our fireplace dropped by a couple of days ago to admire the progress and even he said “I was worried for you both that the renovation could split you guys up.” I hadn’t noticed any dark clouds in our relationship at all – that is until we hit the water wall.

During this concern-about-the-bacterial-count, we’ve had generous friends sharing their well water with us. Larry shleps gallons of containers home. I wondered to myself why they all had perfect readings and we didn’t. Well guess what? NOBODY TESTS their water! Well, that isn’t entirely true. All the friends have tested their well water at one time or another, but after a couple of passes, why bother? I mean, why spend $25 and have the hassle of another trip up the valley to the lab? In fact, the friend whose well we are sourcing the most told me that the only problem he’s had with his well is that usually every spring he has to fish a snake or two out of it. Mmmmm. Another friend told us he picked up what he thought was a pile of rags out of the bottom of his well. It turned out to be some wriggling snakes and he decided to hurl them out of the well. Unfortunately he missed and they came back down, landing on his head. His wife said he let out the most blood-curdling scream she’d ever heard.

The clay in the bottom of the well helped to seal the bottom of our dug pond. However, 4 days later it was almost empty again.

It’s been 48 hours since the well was emptied and it’s only 1/3 full. I just put the kettle on for tea and this is the part where the stress comes in. Since day 1 I’ve been using our well water in the kettle and for cooking. My official reasoning is that “I boiled it, it must be safe” and my unofficial reasoning is “does it really matter anyway?” Larry insisted I use the donated well water. “You mean you want me to make tea with the snake water?”

A simple glass of water just took on a whole new meaning.

The Water Feature

One of our fantasies in moving to Nova Scotia was to have a water feature where we live. Like many dreamers, we thought we could move to Nova Scotia and buy an oceanfront property or at least something on a river.

Bear River looking towards the Bay of Fundy

Fortunately for us oceanfront meant “too expensive” because ocean winds are unbelievably cold in the winter. We discarded the idea. When we ‘found’ Bear River we hoped to find a waterfront property but that didn’t exactly pan out either… or did it?
We bought our house last year late in the summer. The full-to-the-brim gargantuan reservoir should have been a big clue to us that we had lots of water!

Ferns growing in the lawn were more evidence of water.

For a little village that has no municipal water source it’s ironic that there are streams running through the ground here and through the rocks. The water that trickles through the far end of our two acres starts way up at the top of the hill across the road through a couple of other people’s properties and it continues through our property down the hill past the neighbors then eventually finds its way into the river and out to the Bay of Fundy.

"I just want a little water feature, please".

Recently several neighbors got together to talk to our local provincial member of Parliament, Harold “Junior” Theriault to find out if some of that water can be diverted into a sewer system before it travels over and through our yards. I am quite skeptical about whether anything can be done knowing how short of cash the province is, but it was interesting to meet him and to meet our neighbors and to go sloshing through wetlands wearing rubber boots.

Entertainment- rural style.

We figured this could be a great opportunity to ‘turn a lemon into lemonade’ so we hired a fellow with a backhoe to dig us a ‘little’ pond.
It is amazing how one thing leads to another and a little thing like a hole in the ground morphs into a 3 day production while the meter ticks.

And before you could say 'waterfront property'...

Surprisingly, the water never stops flowing and the other day after a huge downpour it was like Niagara Falls. There is a naturally occurring hole in the bottom of this pond that drains down through the rocks but when the downpour came the pond filled faster than it drained and Larry had to siphon some of it out to prevent the banks from collapsing. Our Bear River adventure indeed!

The water sinkhole.

Our friend Don came over to check it out and the three of us were out in the rain getting soaked, laughing, wading in the water and looking like grownups on the outside but feeling like kids playing in the puddles on the inside.

Don pretends to study the water level, but actually wants to jump in.

The next day the rain was over and the pond was empty — it had all drained out! It’s certainly going to be a work in progress to figure out the drainage logistics.

Apple tree reflections

I could see amazing reflections in the water though and I’m quite excited about being able to plant some water plants there and practice painting reflections. I’m having visions of Monet’s water lilies but without the black flies.

Cameron Lake, watercolour, c FloraDoehler

This innocent ‘water feature’ is currently a big mud hole in the ground. Still, I keep collecting plants that love water and judging by the raccoon footprints in the mud, the wildlife are excited about it too! In future, I’ll have to pay closer attention to what I wish for!

The constant trickle to the sea.

Spring Thaw at the Creek

The little waterfall built by the beaver.

Suddenly the snow and ice is melting and today the sun shone bright and the sky was a beautiful blue.

Today was a stay-at-home and bake bread, make soup, plant leek seeds, make granola, hang laundry on the clothesline day. In between I took a little walk down to the creek behind us and saw that much of the ice was gone. 

The beavers have made a little waterfall back there and I waded into the stream with my high rubber boots on and headphones too so that I could record the rushing water sounds. It’s so exciting that spring is really coming!

Political Action in Bear River

Main street, Bear River

Dear Friend of Bear River,

There is a current community push to deal with our critical village infrastructure issues around:

• Water and Sewage
• Parking & Road Restrictions
• Sidewalks/Boardwalks and Snow Removal

Two letters have been forwarded to me from Rick McMullen and Rob Buckland-Nicks and they will give you some background as to what is being proposed to deal with these issues. Your voice is critically needed to put some pressure on the powers-that-be to help us access some of the Federal infrastructure monies that the Harper government is currently distributing to communities in need. – Flora Doehler

—————

Letter from Rob Buckland-Nicks to our community:

Bear River’s difficulties come not from its beauty or rich heritage, nor from its proud and hard working residents or its many volunteer driven community groups and churches; or from the thousands of tourists so happy to have discovered us. Our difficulties come from being overlooked by the two dominant counties on whom we rely for political leadership.

Geography and bureaucracy have dictated that one side of the Bear River is in Digby County and the other side in Annapolis County. The towns of Digby and Annapolis have Municipal structures. Bear River is not incorporated, and having no Town Council must rely on its neighbours for some form of local governance. In short, we are sometimes reduced to searching for crumbs from two well set tables.

There are enough determined individuals to still get things done but when it comes to infrastructure, our pockets are simply not deep enough to deal with our current urgent problems. We are in desparate need of our share of infrastructure money from the federally allocated funds for “Shovel Ready Projects” in West Nova.

Greg Kerr, our Conservative government member in Ottawa, had agreed to meet with the people of Bear River provided that an Agenda be sent to his Constituent Offices and that the two Municipal representatives from Digby and Annapolis be invited to attend. When this was received he and his staff would confirm a date. We have heard nothing and yet the required materials were sent to him several weeks ago.

It is vitally important that our concerns and wishes be heard at this time, as it is unlikely that there will be this much infrastructure funding available for some time. I would ask everybody to write or Email to the Honourable Greg Kerr and politely ask him to come here and meet with us.

The Honourable Greg Kerr, M.P.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs 

House of Commons,
Ottawa (613) 995-5711
(613) 995-9857
kerr.G@parl.gc.ca
 
233 Water Street
Yarmouth, 902) 742-6808 
(902) 742-6815 (Fax)

Head of the Tide in Bear River.

—————————————–

Suggested Agenda to Greg Kerr by Rick McMullen & friends

Mr. Greg Kerr MP
233 Water Street
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
B5A 1M1

Kerr.G@parl.gc.ca

Dear Mr. Kerr,

It has been confirmed with your constituency office that you are willing to come and meet with concerned citizens of Bear River as well as representatives of both Annapolis and Digby counties to address issues and concerns that we would like brought to your attention and we thank you for your time. A meeting of residents, businesses, and community groups and organizations was held on Wednesday, January 28 in Bear River to discuss an agenda in preparation for our meeting with you. In light of the infrastructure funding being made available through the upcoming federal budget as released on Tuesday, January 26, 2009, the following is what we would like to discuss with you at your earliest opportunity.

Water and Sewage: Although there is partial service in the town on both points, there are grave concerns that downtown has no consistent fresh water which has led to the temporary closure of the only currently operating restaurant in Bear River. Another entrepreneur and commercial property owner attending the meeting stated that they have plans to open their own restaurant within the next few months; for such a venture, the current lack of water is very disconcerting.

A minimum of twelve residences were also identified as having both the environmentally and socially unacceptable situations of directing their wastewater either towards, or directly into, local waterways. This is despite having collecting sewer lines within meters of the homes. In recent years, one stretch of houses had the material delivered awaiting the heavy equipment, only to have it later removed and the project annulled. With the current global concerns regarding the environment, this is an unacceptable situation in when a solution is within grasp with minimum effort.

Sidewalks/Boardwalks and Snow Removal: Although the Dept. of Highways from both Annapolis Royal and Digby service the roads in Bear River regarding snow removal and salt/sand distribution, the roadsides that should function as walkways are left to receive the snow plowed from the roads. It should be noted that Bear River does having an aging subsection of its population that, as a result, are left to walk on the plowed roads. All the residents at the meeting identified this as a safety concern and a strong motivator to have sidewalks installed, and to initiate a plan to provide employment to a resident in the form of sidewalk maintenance and snow removal.

Community volunteers clearing snow and ice for Winter Carnival.

Hand in hand with this, is the current disrepair of the boardwalk on the Annapolis side of Bear River. This necessary restoration would not only provide a boost to local employment, but also bring this community asset back to a safe and aesthetically pleasing state. It was also discussed that extending this facility provides an additional tourism draw. Tourism is a very strong component of the Bear River economy.

Parking & Road Restrictions: In conjunction with the sidewalk situation identified above; road markings for parking, and placing weight restrictions on particular roads and streets can be an initiative towards making the community more friendly to both residents and tourists alike.

Note that in the email containing this letter is an attached file from ACOA.This file is an assessment of Bear River that was done in 2007 commissioned by the now defunct BRIDGS organization. I trust the file may provide some further background to the issues addressed above.

I, those attending this initial meeting, and the residents and business owners, look forward to discussing these issues with you in Bear River to develop a plan to access the funding opportunity being initiated by the government you represent at a time of your earliest convenience. Once we have a date and time settled, we will make announcements to the community and the counties of Annapolis and Digby so any resident, business interest and local representatives may attend at a location in Bear River.

Thank you for your time and efforts in addressing these concerns.

Sincerely,

Rick McMullen