Despite the final report on Parlee Beach water quality saying out of 1,452 samples taken last year, 99% were ‘very good’, not everyone is convinced.
Susan Campbell and her husband sold their house in Quispamsis to move back to Shediac which is where she mostly grew up.
“But with this problem of all this sewage and everything it’s not the same, and it will never be the same,” says Campbell. “But when we sold our house, and we sold our trailer and moved up here, I told my husband ‘I don’t want to buy because if this beach is gonna become a problem, we’re not staying here.’”
She also believes the infrastructure upgrades are too late to help the issue this year.
Campbelle says “it’s gonna be just exactly like what we had last summer, you’re gonna look at a sign, it’s going to tell you ‘yes, the water’s safe,’ and then you’re in swimming you get out and it’s like ‘Oh No!’
That’s not her only frustration either.
“They’re still charging for the passes, so you still have to pay your $110 to go swimming in your poop,” fumes Campbell.
Campbell’s husband Allan, however, does believe the results, admitting he doesn’t envy the government’s position here.
At the end of the day, Allan says, “the one thing that they have to find is where the sources of this contamination are, and that is going to be difficult, it could be from many sources.”
Allan believes the government is doing their best, but like his wife, Susan, he isn’t expecting to see many results this year because the contamination source hasn’t been found and the piping and infrastructure upgrades aren’t complete.
The provincial government hosted an Open House at the Parlee Beach administration building Saturday, and about 275 people came to learn more about the situation and what had been done so far, and what steps have yet to be taken.
