Giving our neighbors a helping hand?

It started with me posting an add in our local Wakefield News, looking to gain some good karma. I offered to bring water to people in my community who could not do this for themselves. Now I find myself in the middle of a problem that saddens, confuses and outrages me. I am getting calls from residents at our seniors home in Wakefield who are frustrated at not being able to drink the water from their taps. The 20 or more seniors at this residence are in limbo, they're not considered sick enough to be admitted to the hospital (where there's no room for them anyway), and they aren't wealthy or old and feeble enough to be admitted to the local Manoir (which I understand is also full). I got a call today from an exasperated older woman who has cancer and cannot leave the residence without exposing herself to germs that may make her sick. She is not alone at being alone and cannot and will not drink what she calls the "yucky water" from the residence well system. The yucky water has a high iron and sulphur content but worse for seniors with health concerns like high blood pressure etc., it has a high salt content.

Make no mistake, Wakefield is lucky to be the first rural community to receive funding for such a residence for seniors and our local mayor deserves credit for championing this cause. However, there seems to be some bureaucratic bumbling going on with the operation of the senior residence. From what I understand, it is a non profit enterprise, that received generous funding from Quebec City to build but operating costs are not fully covered by either the province or the municipality.  A legal corporation runs the facility through a Board of volunteers who do the best they can in an imperfect situation. One result is the caretaker does not receive a salary but gets an apartment at the facility. The caretaker in the past brought water from our local spring for the residents to use for drinking and cooking. The new caretaker does not see this as his job and it therefore falls on family members or volunteers like me, to bring water to residents who need potable water. Part of the problem is the water filtration system is complicated and needs to be maintained in order for it to work properly. Due largely to a lack of funds, no volunteer or plumber was paid to do this and over time, the system became ineffective. There is effort underway to get this filter system up and running again but time will tell if it keeps functioning under these less than ideal operating conditions.

My volunteer job starting tomorrow, it to begin bringing water to people at the residence who are alone and cannot afford to have bottled water brought in. If other like-minded people act to help out by clearing walkways, or maintaining the water filtration system etc., there's no reason why the residence cannot function smoothly and safely. My original intent was to bring water for elderly or disabled people in Wakefield who cannot draw water from the spring due to unsafe icy conditions. I am the first to say how thankful we are to have a no charge, chemical free water source that our municipality maintains. However, in this day and age, there is a glaring problem with growing communities like Wakefield not having a plan and vision for meeting their drinking water needs that includes investments in infrastructure to make this affordable and accessible by all Wakefield residents. In the meantime, I may receive some criticism for my efforts or maybe some goodwill from people who appreciate what I am trying to do. I hope my efforts help a community in transition and like the icy conditions around our spring, it won't last forever.