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Appealing to town to back off from strong-arming residents

Resident asks town council to reconsider possible options for wireless water meter holdouts.

Dear Editor,

On Tuesday I attended the council meeting to speak out about something that has become of interest to me. I know I run the very real risk of being viewed as crazy by writing this. I’m sharing my feelings anyway. I am concerned about the safety of the water meters that have been installed in our homes. Just to clarify, yes I have one in my home and no, I am not overly interested in joining with those who desire a civil case against the town.

I have no clear evidence that smart meters are, or have the ability to, make us sick; the problem lies in the fact that there is likewise no clear evidence to prove that they are safe (the WHO classifies them as “possible carcinogens”). Yes, I recognize they are “approved” as safe, so was thalidomide (look it up), but the powers that be realized they had made an error in approving that. The difficulty is that real long-term safety studies cannot have been done. Science is theory based; everything about science is “until proven otherwise”.  We will only know the true dangers and effects of todays technology in 10, 20, maybe 50 years. It’s difficult for me that we are willing to be, and willing to let our children be, the long-term test subjects. Councilor Mark Yaworski obviously agrees with this “is it safe is it not safe?” mentality, in fact at the meeting, right before voting in favor of disconnecting the water to all the homes that have not yet complied with having a new smart meter put in he stated “I have one of these things in my home, I don’t know if they are safe, or if they are unsafe, we will only know that in the future, but I’m tired of having this issue cross the council desk. We need to just vote to get the job done and get on with it” (loosely quoted). This doesn’t sound like a remark that comes from someone who is overly concerned with caring for the residents who trusted him to be their voice.

Once Neptune Technologies completed the bulk of the installations, the town hired a contractor to complete the task of getting the meters installed in the remaining hundred or so homes. I spoke with this contractor and shared my concerns with him, stating that I would in fact like to have this meter removed. He agreed with me that the town should be more than willing to work with anyone who will work with them. In his final report to the town concerning his work, the contractor made a suggestion to the town that anyone who did not wish to have a meter in their home for such personal reasons as health concerns, and who was willing to work with the town, should be allowed to opt out of the new water meter. This report was given to Dave McPhee (Director of Operations and Property Services) at the town, however this suggestion was not passed on to town council (it is my understanding that town council has access to the whole report). I have to wonder why, even after receiving such a suggestion from a trusted professional, the town council would still push through with the no option agenda?

I believe the no option decision is based on trying to strong-arm a small group of people who may be playing hardball with the town. They have made this a civil suite; they have potentially made enemies with the town. I want to be clear that is not my goal, I don’t want enemies, I just want choice, and I know I am not the only one that does.

I will be respectfully asking the CAO to reconsider the decision and to work with those of us who are willing to work with the town. If you’re concerned at all about the safety of the meters, or even about the fact that the town would actually cut off water to 25+ residents, I ask that you would do the same. If you are among the residents who already have a water meter installed and desire to work with me in asking the town to reconsider, please contact me at haley.88@live.ca.

Haley Brochu

Ponoka