Ontario's health minister was unequivocal on Wednesday about the provincial government's intention to keep well water tests free for private residents.
In parts of rural Ontario, the potential for well water testing costs to be shifted to the consumers has been a source of angst in recent months.
Ontario's auditor general reported late last year that the provincial agency responsible for providing scientific health advice to the Ministry of Health recommended in January 2023 that the government gradually discontinue private drinking water testing, echoing a suggestion it made in a "modernization" report six years earlier.
The recommendation was part of a larger plan Public Health Ontario suggested in 2017 "to mitigate rising costs of repairs and upgrades in existing laboratory sites and would result in a more efficient operating model" for public health labs, the auditor general wrote in her 2023 annual report.
Three weeks ago in the legislature, Jones said "the ministry (had) not made any decisions about changes to the provincial well water testing program, including which laboratories conduct testing of water samples," along with that "no one in the province of Ontario or in this legislature... believes that putting well water testing at risk is on the table."
The health minister's April 16 comments weren't enough, however, to stamp out all concerns.
The issue has come up again since before Tay Township's council. It also served as the reason for the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority to write the provincial government urging it not to phase out free well-water testing for private residents. Both are in Simcoe County.
On Wednesday, when asked whether well water tests will continue to be free-of-charge, Health Minister Sylvia Jones responded simply, saying: "Yes, yes, yes."
