The Region of Queens is considering a three-pronged approach to help residents deal with drought conditions and dry wells.

On Nov. 12, councillors asked staff to draft a bylaw to offer low-interest loans to residents to drill new wells. At a workshop with staff on April 14, councillors said they wanted to see more options to address water access for residents not hooked up to the municipal water utility.

“We’re hearing obviously that we’ve got water availability issues,” Angela Henhoeffer, director of protective services, told councillors at their May 12 meeting. 

“There are concerns across the region, especially in dry periods that affect residents.” 

Municipal staff are proposing a one-year pilot project at a cost of $250,000 to try to tackle some of those issues. It would help address water conservation and storage through a combination of a rain barrel and water tote program, community wells and low-interest loans for drilled wells.

“It’s designed to address both immediate needs as well as storage and long-term challenges with access to infrastructure,” Henhoeffer said.

Other municipalities, including the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg and the Municipality of the District of Barrington, already offer low-interest loans for new wells. The Municipality of the District of Chester hopes to have four community wells up and running by the summer.

Under the Queens proposal, residents would be eligible to receive up to two rain barrels for non-potable water storage and one food-grade tote for potable water. Depending on income level, they would either be free or subsidized up to 80 per cent.

In the end, the $50,000 program could provide up to 150 rain barrels and 75 water totes.

The second part of the proposal involves community wells. Councillors said they would prefer to partner with existing community centres with their own reliable water supply, instead of the region building its own new community wells.

The community partnerships could cost up to $5,000 annually per site.

The well loan program would provide up to $30,000 loans at an interest rate of two per cent, to be repaid over 10 years. It would be administered through the non-profit Clean Foundation, and the loan would be applied as a lien on the property, similar to property taxes.

Deputy Mayor Maddie Charlton was worried that higher-income households may use up the program funding at the expense of lower-income homeowners.

“I just am concerned that the people who could really benefit from this won’t even stand a chance to get their application in because the money’s gone,” she said.

She suggested a tiered rate for those who can afford it, with a shorter repayment period of five years, while those on lower incomes would have 10 years to repay the loan.

District 6 Coun. Stewart Jenkins said he was worried that people who are already struggling to pay their property taxes would be further disadvantaged by a 10-year loan.

“We could be putting a burden on these people and have no benefit to them other than they’re losing their house,” he said.

Councillors also suggested beefing up the well loan program, currently proposed at $100,000, by looking for outside funding opportunities so that more residents could benefit.

“I just think we have the option to do this really well by leveraging a climate adaptation grant, and so we could increase the thresholds,” Charlton said.

They voted in favour of the rain barrel and water tote proposal and for staff to look into partnering with the Brooklyn Recreation Committee through their rain barrel fundraiser to supply up to two barrels and one tote per household.

And they want staff to consider up to four sites around the region for community well partnerships.

The well loan program requires a new bylaw. Councillors told staff to include income caps for eligibility and to investigate a relief option for lower income homeowners who may struggle to repay the loan.

That bylaw could come back for council’s consideration as early as their next meeting on May 26.