Water operators from as far away as Kenora are in Walkerton this week to upgrade their skills through mandatory yearly training. “Safe drinking water relies on skilled operators, and not all those skills can happen in a classroom,” said Walkerton Clean Water Centre CEO, Kara Rutherford. “So, Maintenance Fest provides those practical hands-on skills, using equipment, and real-life scenarios that they can learn from.” While most water system operators came from Southern Ontario to this year’s training, Rick Sandy and Phil Tangie travelled 18 hours to be there from a remote Indigenous nation near the Manitoba border. “I’m just hoping to learn everything that they provide. And hopefully they can help me in my own community, because I want to provide safe and clean drinking water for my people, where I’m from,” said Sandy, who is a water operator in training with the Anishinaabeg of Naongashiing Nation near Kenora. It’s not just municipal or Indigenous water operators there, John Bender operates a trailer home park near Durham. He had to get a water operator license 20 years ago and needs yearly training to keep that license. “To be very honest with you, it was very intimidating at first. Not only because it was new, but because it was regulated, so stringent,” said Bender. “A lot of people got sick here in Walkerton. Some people died because of bad water. Now, in Ontario, we have the safest water in the world. That’s been brought out at this training a number of times. I learned that it’s not so much about them trying to put me in jail, as it is to educate me, and find a group of people who will help me provide clean water to my tenants.” Bender is one of 68 participants learning about everything to do with water at the 13th year of Maintenance Fest Tuesday and Wednesday. Since, the Walkerton Clean Water Centre opened in 2010, 125,000 people have been trained in water system safety in the very place where tainted drinking water killed seven people. “To me, it’s ground zero. Well number five, it’s ground zero. So, whenever I bring operators here, I bring them on a tour to well number five, and we go to the monument, and we talk about the tragedy,” said Tangie, who is the Water Resource Hub Manager, for the Anishinaabeg of Naongashiing Nation near Kenora. Bender says now that the nerves have dissipated, he’s eager to learn and network with Ontarians in the same boat as him, managing drinking water for others. “Ultimately, I’m in the business of making people happy, and taking care of people,” he said.
