The Region of Queens wants to offer residents with dug wells access to low-interest loans to convert to drilled wells. (Bluenose Well Drilling Facebook page)

Queens County homeowners who want a new drilled well will eventually have access to low-interest loans through the Region of Queens.

Councillors voted unanimously at their regular meeting last week to ask staff to draft a bylaw for a water supply and septic upgrade program.

Some Nova Scotia municipalities already offer low-interest loans for residents who want to switch from a dug well to a drilled well, sometimes at interest rates as low as two per cent.

Joanne Veinotte, the region’s director of finance, told councillors that municipal staff haven’t had calls looking for help with septic systems. But they have heard from people struggling with dry wells who want a loan or grant program to help drill a new one.

“Council will have to decide, are you satisfied with providing $10,000 of assistance, or would you like to provide $30,000 of assistance, or perhaps more?” Veinotte said. 

“Because all of those things depend on how much money you are willing to loan at a low-interest rate, are you going to cover the whole bill or part of the bill? That’s a council decision that will be made through the bylaw process.”

In her report to council, Veinotte said that Queens County has received less than 40 per cent of its annual precipitation in 2025. The area is classified as having severe to extreme drought conditions.

The Municipality of the District of Lunenburg and the Municipality of the District of Barrington are two municipalities on the South Shore that offer low-interest loans for homeowners.

Lunenburg provides up to $20,000 for either well or septic upgrades at a rate of two per cent a year for a term of up to 15 years. Barrington offers a three per cent rate on loans of up to 10 years for well upgrades only. Some municipalities, like Halifax, offer help for both water and septic at prime plus two per cent.

Residents repay the loans through their tax bills.

Initially, staff recommended a program only for drilled wells. But some councillors, like Jack Fancy and Deputy Mayor Maddie Charlton, said they’d like to see septic upgrades included in the program.

“I think of in Milton in particular, there’s so many septics that are going straight into the river,” Fancy said. 

‘And that’s part of the environmental issue of it we need to clean up. And if we’re going to do this, I think we need to make this all part of it.”

District 6 Coun. Stewart Jenkins said he’d like to see the cost of a water pump and water tank included in the program.

Veinotte said councillors have the ultimate authority to draft the bylaw the way they want and to hash out the details, including how much to set aside each year for the loan program.

“You guys would talk all of those things through and decide what works best for our residents,” she said. “But absolutely, you as council have the discretion to determine what goes into what pot and how much everyone can take out.”

This is just the first step toward a low-interest loan program for wells and septic systems in Queens County.

Staff will draft a bylaw for councillors to review at a future meeting. Once councillors introduce a proposed bylaw, residents will have a chance to have their say at a public hearing before anything is adopted.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

The Region of Queens is considering using Nickersons Pond and the Herring Cove Lake watershed area as a source for non-potable water. (Rick Conrad)

Despite recent rain showers, the Region of Queens is still struggling with low water levels in the Town Lake Reservoir.

On Wednesday, it continued voluntary water conservation measures that have been in place for a month.

The region is asking its 1,200 customers in Liverpool and Brooklyn to use less water.

In an update on its Facebook page on Thursday, the region said water levels continue to drop.

Almost 47 millimetres of rain has fallen in the area in the past week, according to Environment Canada.

“At full capacity, the Town Lake Reservoir has a maximum depth of nine feet above the water intake pipe,” the region wrote in a Facebook post. 

“At present, the water level is at six and a half feet. If levels reach five feet, it triggers the Warning Level, where reduced water pressure could impact the entire system. While the system is operating at lower pressure, it remains functional.”

Mayor Scott Christian said that the region is investigating alternative water sources to deal with future shortages because of climate change. 

“If that means accessing the Herring Cove watershed and drawing water down from Nickersons Pond, that potentially could be something for the future. But you’re talking a multi-multi-million-dollar investment to stand up a secondary source for the water utility.”

The Nickersons Pond area (Rick Conrad)

That watershed used to supply water to the old Bowater Mersey mill and some residents in Brooklyn.

He said municipal officials are considering that as a source for non-potable water for people with dry wells.

“There’s no draw on it and there’s a dam on it. There’s a significant amount of water there. My understanding is that when it was in full operation, it was drawing in excess of 6 million gallons of water a day.”

Christian said that at their meeting next week, councillors will be considering a proposal for low-interest or no-interest loans for people to switch to drilled wells.

The Municipality of the District of Lunenburg has a program like that. And Christian said it’s been so popular that there’s a backlog of about 60 properties on a waitlist.

“We know that there are pain points there and it also adds to the overall debt load as a property owner, so it’s not a magic bullet, but we’re exploring that channel.”

In the meantime, though, he said the municipality needs to fix the leaks and water loss in its system due to old infrastructure. 

In documents filed with the region’s application for water rate increases at the Nova Scotia Regulatory and Appeals Board, it was revealed that the Region of Queens Water Utility lost 69.1 per cent of its water in 2024 through leaks.

The $21-million project to extend and upgrade water and wastewater services to the Mount Pleasant area of Liverpool will help address that, Christian said.

“We know that we need to stop losing so much water, ensuring that the water utility is viable and sustainable is making the upgrade to the existing infrastructure so that we’re not losing so much water.”

Christian said Town Lake Reservoir is reliable, despite the challenges with water levels in the past two years.

“We’re really fortunate with the watershed that we have. We actually (issued) a conservation order on our water utility quite a bit later coming than it was in a lot of our adjacent municipalities and that’s reflective of the fact that is a very strong watershed.”

Christian said the municipality will work with the provincial and federal governments to create a more reliable water supply, especially if droughts continue due to climate change.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below