Penobsquis water dispute leads to EUB fight

A community group in Penobsquis has filed documents with the Energy and Utilities Board asking it to intervene in its dispute with Sussex Corner, a move that could lead to water regulation in the province.

The residents of the small community in southern New Brunswick have been using bottled water for five years after their wells dried up, a situationthey blame on the local potash mine.

The New Brunswick government built a new water system for those residents and turned control of it over to the village of Sussex Corner to administer.

The villageis demandinguser fees before residents can tap into the water,so the Penobsquis residents are hoping their complaint to the EUB will allow them to set their own water rates.

Beth Nixon, one of the Penobsquis residents who is launching the water challenge, said they want the provincial regulator to intervene in their dispute over the terms and rates being charged to hook into the new water system.

"The best thing that could come out of this is that they should suggest that Penobsquis should have their own water commission and set their own rates," Nixon said.

More than a dozen Penobsquisfamilies are refusing to pay the water fee ordered by Sussex Corner's council to hook up their homes to the new water system.

Adding to their frustration, the Department of Environment recently sent a letter to the Penobsquis residents stating that water deliveries to the communities, which it started after their wells went dry in 2004, would end in September.

Now Nixon and her neighbours are taking their fight to the Energy and Utilities Board.

Whilethe regulator has the potential to regulate water written into its governing legislation, the board has never taken on that power.

"I just think the whole situation needs to be looked into," Nixon said.

"Everything has been unfair, unjust. We're not getting any democratic say. It could happen to anyone, anywhere. We just happen to be the unlucky ones this time."

Water regulation could upset communities

If the Penobsquis residents are able to get the EUB to rule in their favour, that could be the beginning of water regulation in this province.

Peter Hyslop, a lawyer who served as a pubic intervener in front of the regulatory board several years ago, has predicted municipalities would not be happy with that development.

"Probably just about every major city, town, perhaps even villages, in the province of New Brunswick [would be opposed to] that type of an application," he said.

Requests water deliveries to continue

Nixon is also sending a letter to Environment Minister Rick Milesasking the province to extend a deadline to stop the trucks that deliver water to her home three times a week

The community group has also asked the potash mine to continue its practice of delivering bottled drinking water to their homes until the EUB makes its ruling.