JENNIFER FISCHER'S WALKERTON WATER STORY
As told to and written by Beverley Viljakainen

Sitting in her living room, comforting the timid pet guinea pig in her lap, Jennifer Fischer struck me as a gentle, thoughtful person who met the highs and lows of life with intelligence and sensitivity. She came to Walkerton in 1973 as a young girl of ten. Thinking back, she may well have been challenged by the town's water even then, given the bowel-related health problems she experienced subsequent to her family's move from Oakville, Ontario. But, as they say, that's really in the past and Walkerton is definitely home to Jennifer, her husband, Patrick, and their three sons, nine-year-old Isaac, Nicholas who is seven and a half, and six-year-old Abraham. This is a family that, certainly on the surface, did not appear to have been overly affected by the e-coli water contamination that so unceremoniously brought this small town to the world's attention in May of 2000, just two years ago.

Jennifer allows that her three children have probably been sick with infectious conditions more often than is the norm for children. "Kids' stuff" was what she and Pat usually put it down to, and yet there also lingered a persistent doubt in Jennifer's mind. Friends and relatives also remarked on the frequency of the illnesses and, when her uncle, visiting from the States a few years back, noted that there was a very strong sewer smell in the vicinity, she really began to wonder, "Perhaps we had become so used to it that we'd lost our ability to notice it," she muses ruefully. All of which is more than understandable, given that her husband, Pat, "was never sick" and what mother of three boys doesn't experience "perpetual fatigue", as Jennifer has over the years.

There was, however, one significant glitch in Pat's never-sick record that, on hindsight, appears to have been a bit of a red alert. In December, 1999, just a few months before the major e-coli outbreak, Pat had a severe gastro-intestinal upset that sent him to bed for two weeks but without the diarrhea that was soon to lay so many people low. He still recalls the cramp-gripping pain as unbelievably intense. Other than this, the family experienced no dramatic indications that all was not well in the wells of Walkerton.

When asked what she attributed their relative escape to, Jennifer thought that it was probably the accumulated positive effect of a variety of things. For example, they don't use pesticides on their lawn or in their vegetable garden. They are big water drinkers and can often be found walking or biking the river trails and hiking in various outdoors areas. They eat fairly healthy, by which she means they eat organic food to the extent that it's available locally and from their garden. They are also not big meat eaters. Although their children have been sick a lot, Jennifer doesn't give them prescription drugs unless she and Pat are convinced they are absolutely necessary, based on their medical doctor's reply to their questions. She readily consults with a naturopath and other wellness-oriented practitioners in order to ensure optimal health for herself and her family. They began taking Oil of Oregano at the time of the e-coli contamination and continue to do so as a preventative measure. Jennifer also thinks there's something in Pat's belief that, because he grew up on a Walkerton farm, he's built up an immunity to the less friendly forms of life that can make others, who are less inured, fall sick more easily. When all is said and done, she concedes, who really knows the answers to the complexities of the human immune system? We can only do what we think best at the time whatever the situation.

At present, the family still doesn't drink the Walkerton water before it has been put through a charcoal filtering device provided in bottles by a local supplier. They do brush their teeth and bathe in the tap water, but she doesn't let the children linger in their baths the way she once did because of her concern for the high levels of chlorine the water now contains. Also, she adds, a precious trust has been broken and she doubts that it will mend any time soon, given what she hears and sees around her. Only recently, a neighbour told her that he sprayed his lawn because the municipality had told him there'd been a complaint about the weeds (read "dandelions"). Jennifer would really like to see the community get it together around the usage of highly toxic substances to rid the town's lawns of unwanted plants! After all, the residents here now have first-hand knowledge of the delicate balance between what we put into the ground and the quality of the drinking water. Given the research available that suggests direct links between pesticides and the increases in asthma and allergies in children, she cannot understand why the municipality still advocates their use. She herself is becoming more vocal and has asked at least one neighbour not to spray because of her own sons' sensitivities. So far, so good!

Given her own and her children's past health history, Jennifer is concerned that problems may erupt in future because of the years of drinking what may well have been contaminated water. The family has signed up to be tested for e-coli at the clinic established in town this past January, but thus far they've received no call. In the meantime, it's springtime again and life forges ahead. Jennifer is a woman who knows this and my guess is that she and her family will do just that! I also sense that they will overcome whatever hurdles appear without the added obstacles of being blind to the obvious. She's not alone; people everywhere are waking up to the fact that politicians are more often followers of the people than leaders. The Walkerton community has a golden asset in the likes of Jennifer Fischer, a person who can enjoy and honour the natural local waterways while taking the informed precautions that human experimentation requires without becoming overly jaundiced about the contradictions. Hers, too, is a wellness water story worthy of celebration!

May 24, 2002

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