You reach for your water bill. Lo and behold it says that $12,000 is due. You do a double take; yes it is the same amount, $12,000. You phone to see if it's a mistake, you're told no, it's the proper amount. That is what has befallen the small community of Mansfield, home to 300 people, west of Barrie, Ontario. The bill is the result of the Walkerton water poisoning disaster.

In Walkerton a family of incompetents mismanaged the water system of the community causing the death of seven people and the sickness of many others.

The Premier then, Mike Harris, was blamed for not watching over the management of the water works so now the province and the federal government took over everything from the community. They split the costs between the province, the federal government and the community.

The community turned over the waterworks to the governments for a dollar, and the governments then enacted their bureaucratic magic on the little community.

The townsfolk used to pay $115 a year, and took turns managing the waterworks but now it costs $800. A 700% increase. Magic.

Then they had to pay for new pipes and a pump, that's $12,000, right now, no waiting. More magic, and wait for it ... they are asked not to drink the water.

The people are good, hard working folk who have lived and worked in the community for a long while. The oldest is a lady of 82 whose family has toiled on the same piece of land since 1832, the youngest are a family with young children, a stay-at-home mother and a father who runs a Stevenson's Rent-All. For any of them $12,000 is not just lying around.

Their community is not the only one, other small villages like Leith, Feversham, Walters Falls and Marsville have already been hit by water bureaucracy and all indications are that they will not be the last.

So now its $12,000 per household, and don't drink the water.

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