Geography & Environment Publications
Local Water Diversely Known: Walkerton Ontario, 2000 and After
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2005
Volume
23
Issue
2
Journal
Environment and Planning D: Society and Space
First Page
251
Last Page
271
URL with Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/d431
Abstract
In this narrative of the water contamination in Walkerton, Ontario, in 2000 - 02 I consider the local priorities defining good water. These vernacular understandings emphasised taste, softness, and thrift in municipal water, and they highly valued local sovereignty in matters of water quality, and solidarity as a quality of local citizenship. By using contemporaneous evidence from media reports and the judicial enquiry into the incident, I trace how the qualities of good water were redefined, and with them community standards of safety, expertise, and risk. The emphasis on community consent to vernacular water monitoring practices and the implications of this shared responsibility differ from the journalistic and judicial accounts which emphasise individual culpability.