The owner of a Nova Scotia water company says he and his small crew are completely maxed out with skyrocketing demand amid extremely dry conditions.
Jason Bellefontaine tells our newsroom he has owned J & B Water Delivery for over 21 years and this is by far the worst he has ever seen.
“We are running ourselves ragged. We’re running pretty much 10/14 hours every day,” says Bellefontaine.
Nova Scotia is experiencing a drought and has issued a ban for burning as well as a ban for going into the woods in an effort to try and prevent a wildfire – each $25,000 if violated.
Bellefontaine says they are so busy he is seeing clients he hasn’t heard from in 12 to 14 years.
“They’re desperate. They’re code red. Especially ones that don’t buy a lot of water. When they got no water in the house, then they’re just kind of freaking out, is what it is,” says Bellefontaine.
He says he had a feeling this summer would be dry considering how little snow we got this winter and now the demand to fill wells is through the roof.
“Yesterday, I had 37 missed calls and 65 text messages. I’ve stopped taking voicemails over seven weeks ago,” says Bellefontaine.
He adds, it’s the busiest from Brookfield through Enfield with farms, elderly and children, getting priority.
“Eighty per cent of my business are wells and right now I have nine horse farms and six dairy farms that we are doing every two days. Right now we have reached 20 to 30 dry wells a day. There’s more than that, but that’s just all we can do,” says Bellefontaine.
The lack of well water is not funny, and the water table is bad, says Bellefontaine.
“Just keep an eye on it. Don’t wait until you run out of water. Look in the well and give us haulers some time. That’s all we can do.”
The city is now providing drinkable water stations and showers at certain locations across HRM.
