For most people, turning on the tap for a drink or to run a bath is effortless, something barely given a second thought.<\/p>\n
But for Becky Balogh and her family in the Highlands, it\u2019s anything but routine.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the kids want a bath, they have to ask if we have enough water,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
While their home is connected to a private well, the family has instead been hauling in water from another property in Langford for over two years.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a chore they repeat a couple of times a week, while carefully rationing every litre.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not something they do by choice.<\/p>\n
Balogh says the extra work has become a necessity, driven by fears their well has been contaminated by a neighbouring septic system.<\/p>\n
Those fears began in June 2023, when they noticed a \u201crainbow-coloured\u201d liquid seeping through a fractured rock wall next to their house, in close proximity to their well.<\/p>\n
Tests commissioned by the family found \u201chigh bacteria levels\u201d in their well water, while the liquid seeping through the rock wall tested positive for fecal matter and E.coli, says Balogh.<\/p>\n
The results prompted them to immediately stop using their well for domestic purposes.<\/p>\n
A septic field uphill on their neighbour\u2019s property, roughly 30 metres away from their well, quickly became the prime suspect as the source of the contamination. The system services a single-family home occupied since 2021, and a carriage house, which has been in use since 2018.<\/p>\n
Balogh believes that until June 2023, her family had been unknowingly drinking contaminated water while the septic field was in use.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t taste it, you can\u2019t see it, we were drinking it,\u201d she says. \u201cOur daughter was born in 2018 \u2013 she was raised on it \u2013 it\u2019s heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n
All four family members and their pet dog have experienced health problems consistent with waterborne infectious diseases they believe are connected to the contamination.<\/p>\n
For her husband Chris and their 11-year-old son, the effects have been ongoing and severe, with symptoms that \u201cpresent like arthritis,\u201d says Balogh.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were in emergency yesterday because our son wasn\u2019t able to walk for three days because of his joint pain in his ankles,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband is on pretty heavy-duty cancer medication right now, because that\u2019s how you have to treat this infection that\u2019s throughout his body.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since first suspecting something might be wrong with their well water, Balogh says she and her husband tried repeatedly to raise their concerns with Island Health and the District of Highlands, but struggled to be heard.<\/p>\n
In November last year, Island Health closed an investigation under the Drinking Water Protection Act, informing the family it found \u201cno evidence of an identified threat\u201d to their well from the neighbouring sewerage system.<\/p>\n
Balogh says Island Health did not test their well water during the investigation, relying instead on surface observations, which she argues were flawed because they were conducted during a summer drought.<\/p>\n
Island Health was invited to comment on the Baloghs\u2019 complaints, but declined as the matter is the subject of active litigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s been disheartening is nobody believing you,\u201d said Balogh. \u201cWe\u2019re living this nightmare, but for them it\u2019s just a job, they don\u2019t care \u2013 they get to go home, have a nice hot bath and sleep at night.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the family pushed for officials to take their concerns seriously, they also began work on installing a second well on their property. To allow access for drill trucks, trees were removed from the property and a temporary road built for access.<\/p>\n
But that work has put them at odds with the District of Highlands and The Land Conservancy, as the site of the new well lies within a protected covenant area. Both The Land Conservancy and Highlands have since filed lawsuits against the family.<\/p>\n
Although the new well has now been installed, Balogh says her family has been advised not to use it for domestic purposes as it is \u201cnext in line for contamination.\u201d<\/p>\n
But there could finally be some relief on the horizon.<\/p>\n
A hydrogeological assessment concluded the neighbouring septic system posed an \u201cimmediate health hazard,\u201d calling it \u201cimproperly installed and designed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additional testing in November last year, conducted by environmental consultants hired by the family, confirmed a \u201cdirect hydraulic flow pathway\u201d between the septic field\u2019s absorption bed and the Baloghs\u2019 well.<\/p>\n
According to the report, it takes approximately seven days for effluent to travel from the septic system to the well.<\/p>\n
Island Health has since taken action. Citing both reports, the health authority issued an order in October directing the neighbours to stop using the sewerage system immediately until it is either replaced or properly repaired. Once their tanks are full, the sewage must be pumped and transported to a facility legally authorized to accept it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI reasonably believe that the sewerage system located on the property is constructed in a manner that, in my opinion, presents a significant risk of not being capable of continuing or treating domestic sewage and may be creating a health hazard,\u201d an Island Health environmental health officer wrote in a letter to the property owners, shared with Goldstream Gazette by Balogh.<\/p>\n
An invitation to comment on Balogh\u2019s allegations was sent to the property owners via their lawyers Carfra Lawton, but Goldstream Gazette was told: \u201cNo comment.\u201d<\/p>\n
In correspondence shared with Goldstream Gazette, Carfra Lawton stated in August that their clients continue to deny the allegations and are undertaking remediation work required by Island Health under the Public Health Act.<\/p>\n
For Balogh, Island Health\u2019s action feels like long-overdue validation.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody finally believes us,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause it\u2019s been a battle and I feel like a lot of people would have just rolled over \u2026 given up and walked away from their property.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe couldn\u2019t even sell, we can\u2019t leave \u2013 we\u2019re literally held hostage, so in our mind we had to fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
It also underscores the serious questions Balogh has raised over the last two years about how the septic system was permitted to operate in the first place.<\/p>\n
According to information she obtained from Island Health and Highlands, the system operated without a Final Letter of Certification for six years \u2013 a period during which the district granted occupancy to both dwellings on the property.<\/p>\n
A Final Letter of Certification is typically required within 30 days after installation. One was eventually filed with Island Health in the summer of 2023, shortly after the Baloghs raised concerns.<\/p>\n
The family has since filed a lawsuit against the district, alleging it failed to ensure proper certification was in place before granting occupancy.<\/p>\n
Highlands was asked to comment, but chief administrative officer Sarah Jones declined, citing ongoing litigation.<\/p>\n
Additional lawsuits have also been filed against Island Health, the septic installer and the neighbouring property owners.<\/p>\n
As Balogh prepares for the legal battles ahead, she says she\u2019s finally beginning to feel hopeful about a fresh start for her family \u2013 and for their home.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hoping this is the start of good things,\u201d she says. \u201cJust to have the contamination stopped is a huge relief \u2026 and with all the rain coming through here, hopefully it will wash things out and make our property safe again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For most people, turning on the tap for a drink or to run a bath is effortless, something…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-303487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}