Family waiting months for water after neighbour's oil spill contaminates well

A family of five in Howie Centre, N.S., has gone for months without clean water in their Cape Breton home after their well was contaminated by heating oil.

They say officials from Nova Scotia's Environment Department confirmed a spill occurred on a neighbour's property earlier this year, but so far, little is being done about it and there are fears the oil has now spread to the nearby Sydney River.

The smell of oil in the house has made the family sick and dealing with the effects has cost them thousands of dollars, said Adam Betz, who bought the home three years ago with his wife, Kirsten.

"We started to notice when we flushed the toilets we could smell diesel in the bathroom, so my wife and children went out to Manitoba" to stay with family, Betz said.

"They stayed there for approximately three weeks. It wasn't cheap, but it was the cheapest option we had. We've also had to stay at hotels several nights just to be able to get showers for everyone in the house and to ensure our safety."

The couple live just outside of Sydney in a waterfront home with their two young children and Betz's father.

Betz said animals appear to have chewed the neighbour's oil line over the winter, contaminating his well in the spring and leaving his home's water supply unusable since April.

Approaching three months

The family is extremely frustrated, approaching three months without clean water in the house.

"I still have furnace oil in my well," Betz said. "My water is contaminated and we've had to use bottled jugs we fill up across the road at a neighbour's whose [water is] uncontaminated to bathe the kids, wash dishes, do the floors, and then we buy water for drinking water at this point."

He and his wife are thankful for another neighbour who lives across the street.

"Luckily, we've had some neighbours who helped us out with showers," Betz said.

"He has a fully finished bathroom in his garage, which we've been using for my wife, myself and my father. For the two young kids, we've got the big 20-litre bottles of water that I've been carrying and then we'll boil six or seven pots to put in the tub with one full 20-litre jug so we can get enough water for them to have a bath."

Betz said his insurance company would cover an oil spill if it was on his property, but won't cover a spill from another property and his neighbour's insurance company is not admitting liability until it finishes investigating.

Hired a well driller

After months of inaction and no end in sight, the couple has hired a well driller to try to find a new well on their property.

That has meant the construction of a rocky road into their backyard to get the heavy equipment in and there is no guarantee they will find a clean source of water, adding to the stress the family has been living with, Betz said.

It has meant most of their time after work has been spent getting clean water into the house and little time left for leisure.

"We can't really enjoy the property at all," Betz said. "It has no value at this point. I couldn't sell the house and move somewhere else if I wanted to."

Another neighbour who lives a few doors down from the Betzes said she noticed an oily sheen on the river's surface earlier this week.

Lisa Patterson said she is concerned for the Betzes and is worried about the river.

"I have grandchildren home and they've been swimming, boating," she said.

"So now, I'm not sure if I can trust that. There's eagles fishing. There were two loons out on the river yesterday. There's beavers. There's people fishing and there's people swimming. So I am very concerned and upset."

Province should do more: neighbour

Patterson said officials with the Department of Environment were out at her home earlier this week taking a statement and snapping pictures of the river water.

The province should be doing more to protect people's properties and the environment, she said.

"It's really just shocking and disturbing that nothing's been done."

A spokesperson for Nova Scotia Environment said the department cannot confirm the exact location of the spill.

In an email, the spokesperson said the department has ordered an assessment and plans to monitor the situation and will ensure compliance with contaminated site regulations.

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