Dry weather causing headaches for Nova Scotians on dug wells
Water delivery business working around the clock to refill wells
Longtime West Hants resident Dawn Dunphy is hoping for a good, hard rain.
Lately she's been turning on her tap and nothing's coming out. That's because her dug well has run dry again.
"Right now we're conserving," Dunphy said from her home in Ardois, N.S. "It sucks, but it's, like, doing one load of wash a week, not flushing the toilet as often, not showering as long."
Dunphy said usually these measures are top of mind in the summer, but this is the driest fall she's seen in 26 years. She said she had to pay to fill up her well twice last month.
A prolonged stretch of dry weather in parts of the province is forcing some people to conserve water, and homeowners on dug wells are paying to truck water in and fill up their wells more often — some for the first time.
According to the Canadian Drought Monitor, most of the province was abnormally or moderately dry in October. CBC meteorologist Ryan Snoddon said recent rainfall is much needed, but it hasn't been enough to permeate the ground deeply enough to replenish wells.
Dunphy said she's seeing the effects of climate change causing more extreme weather in her area, including higher winds and drier stretches. She says some people are left feeling helpless.
"There's nothing that we can do," she said. "We need more than just these little drizzle storms that we're getting. It needs to rain."
Water delivery company trying to keep up
"It's almost impossible to keep up with it all," said Jason Bellefontaine, who operates J & B Water, a bulk water distributor based in Hants County. "We're doing upwards of 30 calls a day right now."
Bellefontaine said a winter with less snow meant his business started picking up in February, and he has been struggling to keep up ever since. He said this is the busiest fall he's ever seen — usually he only has one truck operating in November but this year he has three water trucks going non-stop.
"There's no water getting into the ground," Bellefontaine said. "I've got people now that are running out of water that have never ran out of water, ever."
He said though his business is booming, he sees the stress the dry weather is putting on his clients. A fill can cost more than $300, and he said some people are calling multiple times a week.
Bellefontaine said he can't get to everyone, so he's prioritizing farms, elderly clients, and people with babies.
He said he has one piece of advice for people on dug wells.
"Please check your wells, just look in them, see how low they are," he said. "Don't wait until you run out, then it's code red and it puts more pressure on everyone."
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