The upcoming election in Prince Edward Island has, for the first time, resulted in a long-standing problem on the Island becoming an election issue: high nitrate levels in the province's drinking water.
The timing was good. A joint-federal-provincial study released in April brought the issue to the forefront, and now politicians from all the main parties are making promises to anxious PEI residents whose drinking water has unacceptably high nitrate levels.
The study found that nitrates are entering the Island's groundwater at an alarming rate, with nine watersheds at a critical level of contamination and many others at risk. The nitrates are originating from chemical fertilizers used in farming, particularly in potato production.
A poll by commissioned PEI's Guardian newspaper showed that in Prince County, the Green Party is polling 10 per cent and has pushed ahead of the NDP to third place behind the Progressive Conservatives and the Liberal Party; it is even drawing support from some traditional PC supporters.
Since this is the Green Party's first election in the region, such rapid gains were unexpected. Factors for the Greens' progress cited by the Guardian include ongoing environmental concerns in Prince County, such as high nitrate levels, high cancer rates, and concerns about pesticides.
"People in Prince County are fed right up," Green Party leader Sharon Labchuk told The Epoch Times. "The people up there have got it worse than anybody else on the Island and they've had enough."
The Green Party has made the nitrate issue the centrepiece of its agriculture platform, promising a property tax break for people with contaminated wells along with offering to pay for the installation of pricey filtration systems in homes that have high nitrate levels in the drinking water.
"We have an unusual situation on PEI in that the soil is very sandy, the bedrock is fractured, and anything that goes on top of the ground is going to end up in the groundwater. So we just can't be putting all those chemicals on our soil and not expect them to enter the water at some point," says Labchuk, adding that groundwater is the sole source of water on the Island.
Nitrates interfere with the body's ability to absorb iron, and can cause a lack of oxygen in the blood of babies resulting in what is known as blue baby syndrome. Studies have linked it to a number of health problems, including gastric cancer.
Labchuk believes the people of PEI are ready to demand action on the nitrate issue, and "there's no way it's going to fade into the background as it has in the past." She says the only way to halt the leaching of nitrates into the water is for the province to move into a "diversified agricultural economy that isn't chemical-based," and grow a variety of crops on smaller farms rather than the potato monoculture presently practised. "We need to take away the subsidies from commercial agriculture to make it less profitable—because it's not profitable at all except for the subsidies—and shift it onto the organic agriculture to make it become the dominant form of agriculture," says Labchuk.
The ruling Progressive Conservatives have promised to make water tests for nitrates free, while the Liberals would establish an independent body to protect PEI's drinking water as well as provide financial assistance for water tests and treatment. The NDP say they will impose a province-wide ban on cosmetic pesticides and implement programs to help farmers move to more environmentally sustainable farming practices.
Earlier this month, Premier Pat Binns announced a task force to look into the rising nitrate levels, a problem which began over 20 years ago after the big French fry makers like McCains and Cavendish Farms set up shop in the province.
But Danny Hendricken, director of the National Farmers Union on PEI, says the nitrate issue has been "studied to death" and the time has come for action. While he agrees that a return to smaller farms and a diversity of crops should be the ultimate goal, implementing the Crop Rotation Act, brought in five years ago but never enforced, is an effective measure that could be initiated immediately.
"The Act meant you could only grow potatoes in a field once every three years," says Hendricken. "If that was implemented it would cut our acreage here probably by 20,000 acres and take the pressure off some of the watersheds where the nitrates are at an unacceptable level."
Rather than a task force, Hendricken believes a forum on food production bringing together the general public, the potato industry and government officials would be more effective in finding lasting solutions to the province's water woes.
"I think the potato industry is still a viable one here and can be grown with a greatly diminished impact on our environment and still be the economic engine of the province."
Hendricken says growing fewer acres of potatoes in a more sustainable manner can be achieved, but the government must be prepared to make a multi-million dollar investment to ease farmers through the transition stage because farmers don't have the resources to address the problem.
"Agricultural policy in this province is going to have to take a 180 degree turn," says Hendricken. "We've been saying for years that industrial agriculture is the friend of no-one, but yet there has been a great deal of political complacency out there in terms of tackling this issue."
As for changing to more environmentally friendly fertilizers such as decomposed fish waste, which has been used on farms in parts of Europe for many years, Hendricken says the companies that sell the chemical fertilizer "have quite a foothold here in the industry and there's a lot of pressure put on the government not to come up with other alternatives."
Jen Clement knows first-hand what nitrate contamination can do. She had been having stomach cramps and severe bloating among other symptoms, but didn't suspect the water she was drinking until her daughter and two grandchildren came to stay and promptly succumbed to repeated bouts of diarrhoea.
As luck would have it, Clement's daughter had been taking an environmental studies course which focused on the water situation on PEI. "All the things she was studying in this course seemed to connect with what was happening at our house," says Clement.
She had the well tested for nitrates and discovered it was above the acceptable limit of 10 milligrams per litre. Within two weeks of switching to bottled water, the family's health problems disappeared. But their dogs weren't so lucky. All three developed lumps all over their bodies, which Clement blames on the nitrates.
Clement says lifting the heavy water bottles is now becoming a problem for her, but she hasn't been able to afford the $7,000 it costs to install a reverse osmosis system, the only filtration system that will remove nitrates.
Labchuk says she personally knows two people who in the last few weeks had to install the expensive filtration systems.
"If the drinking water in your house is over 10 you can't sell your home, the bank won't give the purchaser a mortgage to buy your home, so your house is worthless…. There are many people in PEI who are in that situation."
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