"The CEO of Benchmark Labs has found E. coli 0157 — the pathogen that led to the deaths of seven people in Walkerton, Ont., 12 years ago — in several spots across southern Alberta. He worries an Alberta community could be the next Walkerton, and says too many cattle operations are doing too little to keep their manure runoff out of the waterways. "There doesn't seem to be any containment between the open livestock pens, the dairy barns and the other facilities that are here, and they slope directly down to the canal," Bolton said." - Stephan Planken from Bookmarklet

"Bolton said he's frustrated with the response he's been getting from the provincial government: "We're finding huge gaps between the different agencies … either through miscommunication or lack of will. We're not seeing a lot of action in this area," he said." - Stephan Planken

Which reminds me that I haven't tested our wells yet this year... - Stephan Planken

You have a well? - Eivind from Android

Out in the sticks here we pump our own water from an underground stream into a pressure vessel/holding tank. Ours are about 80-90 feet deep, relatively shallow but yet provide about 30 gallon/minute (which is a lot). Usually, in spring time we take a sample and have it tested in a lab (which is done free of charge). - Stephan Planken

Are you connected to any grids? - Eivind from Android

Power and land line (although we are not using that). We use propane and wood for fuel. We have our own water supply and septic system. - Stephan Planken