News release

Province and HRM to Address Harrietsfield Water Issue

Environment (April 2008 - Feb. 2021)

The province and Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) want to improve the water quality for Harrietsfield homes affected by long-standing contamination.

The two levels of government are considering options that include installing water treatment systems and ongoing monitoring and testing of the systems in eight homes with wells contaminated by operations at the now closed RDM Recycling facility.

"These residents have endured more than 10 years of poor water quality as a result of contamination to their properties by a third party," said Environment Minister Margaret Miller. "We are committed as a province to being a partner with HRM as we work to resolve the water situation for these homeowners."

The process to consider HRM's participation will be initiated at the council meeting later today, Nov. 8.

Following successive attempts to resolve the issue with the former operators of the facility, Ms. Miller issued ministerial orders to the operators to assess and repair the environmental impacts from activities that affected residential wells in the area. In March and April, each operator filed an appeal of their order and the matter is now before the courts.

The province will continue to seek remediation of the facility's property by the operators through the courts.