Well water data kept secret
Posted Oct 18, 2011 1:50 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
An inquiry is underway in Edmonton addressing whether data collected from wells in the province should be made public.
Right now the findings of the studies are sealed by the government and are only available by appeal through the Privacy Commissioner.
“Information should be in the public,” University of Calgary biologist Hamid Habibi tells 660News. “But I think there has to be some debate on that. Once these things are in public domain, they will have to address it because I believe this is an important challenge for most of the municipalities.”
Habibi feels the results of water tests should always be available to the public in order to keep the government in check on water quality. But he adds there’s a need for debate because the results could lead to some panic among people who don’t fully understand the test results.
