Walkerton’s E. coli disaster - a quarter century ago

The tragedy occurred 25 years ago after E. coli entered the town’s drinking water, CTV London's Scott Miller reports.

Students from Sacred Heart Secondary School in Walkerton got a peek into their community’s sordid past this week, a past none of them were around to experience.

“I didn’t know about this, no. I used to live up north before I moved here about six years ago. I had no clue this had happened here,” said Grade 11 student, Trace Tierney.

No one in Tierney’s Grade 11 class was even born when E.coli entered Well 5 in Walkerton, poisoning the town’s drinking water supply. Seven people would die as a result, and half of the town’s 5000 residents would fall ill from drinking the contaminated water.

“It was a deep, deep hole we were in,” said Bruce Davidson, who lived in Walkerton at the time.

On May 15, 2000, heavy rain pulled E.coli into Walkerton’s water supply. Two days later, the first bad water sample was found, but it wouldn’t be until May 21st, until residents were warned not to drink the water. A few days later, schools were closed, and the deaths began.

A nine month inquiry, conducted by then Justice Dennis O’Connor, concluded local mismanagement by brothers Stan and Frank Koebel and provincial government cuts contributed to the disaster. The Koebel brothers, who ran the town’s water supply system, spent time in jail and under house arrest, for their roles in the tragedy.

“As we look back, we can see the road to this disaster was paved with shortcuts. A lack of education, lack of enforcement, and just an overall sense that nothing could go wrong with the water. We paid dearly for that assumption,” said Davidson, who became the voice for Walkerton residents in the years following the disaster, as co-founder of Walkerton Concerned Citizens.

Davidson said while the vast majority of those that fell ill fully recovered, including himself and members of his own family, some people who drank Walkerton’s water on the Victoria Day weekend in May 2000, still have health issues today. And that might be part of the reason there are no public memorials or ceremonies planned to mark the 25th anniversary. Walkerton’s faithful don’t want to forget what happened, but they aren’t eager to remember it either.

“For many of the people who did suffer, it does bring back bad memories. And 25 years on, those people are ready to move on, and acknowledge that Walkerton and the townspeople, we’re in a different place now,” said municipality of Brockton mayor, Chris Peabody.

Vast improvements to drinking water regulations were implemented as a result of what happened in Walkerton. In 2005, the Walkerton Clean Water Centre was built, to train Ontario’s water operators, and conduct water based research.

“The legacy is the very strong, rigorous drinking water protocols that now exist in the province. There’s two significant pieces of legislation that protect municipal drinking water in Ontario. They give very stiff penalties to municipal politicians who don’t follow along with the legislation and, that legislation has gone through several changes in government, and it still exists today,” said Peabody.

On the ground, people like Bruce Davidson continue to spread Walkerton’s cautionary tale to anyone who will listen.

“I think it’s important not to revere it in in terms of how horrible it was, but to really honor how good it needs to be in the future going forward, so that we are not going down that path again. We have to realize that contamination can happen anywhere. It doesn’t have to be in an impoverished country. It can happen in your own backyard,” he said.

For those that call Walkerton home now, but weren’t even born when the disaster happened, learning about their town’s troubled past is eye opening.

“Just learning from someone who experienced it firsthand, it brings you to the verge of tears because you realize how really catastrophic it was for so many people,” said Grade 11 student, Hannah Muir.

“It’s crazy looking around you and thinking this happened right here. Like, we’ve been going to school here for how many years? And, like, all this happens right here,” said 17 year old student, Tierney.

“It’s a part of our history. And 25 years on, I feel that many people are ready to move on,” said Mayor Peabody.

“If you look at our water tower, you’ll see the ‘O’ in Walkerton is actually a water drop. So, we can be very proud of where we’ve come from,” said Davidson.