Complacency is one of the greatest risks to drinking water systems, the former chief executive officer of the Walkerton Clean Water Centre told Welland council Tuesday.

Larry Moore, now a consultant, was at the general committee meeting to talk about council's responsibilities under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

During a two-hour presentation - complete with a guidebook for elected officials - Moore said safe drinking water is vital to the health and economy of the community.

"Not everyone in the world can go to a tap and get high-quality drinking water," he said, adding it is councillors' duty to ensure safe drinking water.

And being vigilant is one of the top priorities.

"As far as you know, you have never had a big incident in Welland. Could something happen tomorrow, next week, next? Sure, absolutely it could. It's very unlikely, but it's not zero.

"Don't be complacent," said Moore.

Moore headed the Walkerton Clean Water Centre, formed in the wake of deaths in the town of Walkerton, Ont., due to water contamination, for a number of years.

It is an operational service agency of Ontario, established in 2004, to ensure clean and safe drinking water for the entire province, and co-ordinates and provides education, training and information to drinking water system owners, operators and operating authorities, and the public

"You don't have to be an expert in water systems, but you should be informed," said Moore, adding that means asking questions, reading up on material on water systems and maybe visiting a water treatment facility.

He said after Walkerton, the province moved significantly on source water protection.

The water supply at Walkerton came from a source called Well 5, which was vulnerable to surface contamination. The well sat near an active farm and failures on all levels, according to an inquiry, contributed to its contamination and ultimately the deaths of seven people.

Moore walked councillors through their responsibilities and how to keep the water supply and distribution as safe as they can.

And since Walkerton, council heard the training of water system operators has improved dramatically, with mandatory training.

Ward 1 Coun. Adam Moote said water safety is a vitally important issue. He said he worked at a wastewater plant for three summers and wrote his masters thesis on public policy reform for safe water protection.

He said he wished Moore had visited council before budget deliberations to impress on councillors how important it is to invest in the distribution system.

Moote said with 35 bypass events in 2017 - raw sewage dumped into source waters due to storms - protecting those source waters is important.

Ward 3 Coun. Lucas Spinosa said people take clean water for granted in Canada.

He was recently in the Central American nation of Honduras and said despite not drinking the water, he, his girlfriend and business partner all got sick from the water after washing their vegetables in it.

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