Well of Lies: The Walkerton Water Tragedy [Hardcover]

Quill & Quire
"...well researched and evocative study..."

Toronto Star
"...should be required reading for all who care about democracy and the environment."

Globe and Mail
"...an important chronicle of one of the worst public-health tragedies in Canadian history."

Canadian Geographic
"...a well-written, thorough examination of a truly hair-raising ordeal."

The safeguards that protect the public's health from disease in drinking water have failed, and the unthinkable has happened - undetected contamination in a treated municipal system.

Accusations are flying as politicians and bureaucrats attempt to deflect blame. Caught in the crossfire is veterinarian David Biesanthal, whose farm is near one of the town's wells.

A match has been found between bacteria in manure from his cattle and those in the tainted water. Biesenthal has barricaded himself against an intrusive media horde and is none too welcoming when a car breaches the defences across his driveway and a stranger emerges.

"Who the hell are you?" Biesenthal demands of the man who walks toward him.

"I'm Peter Raymond," the man replies. "My daughter passed away from E. coli. We just wanted to tell you we don't hold you responsible."

The father of the youngest victim of the E.coli scourge, 2-year-old Mary Rose, reaching out to a beleaguered farmer - two ordinary people caught up in a monumental tragedy and coping as best they can.

It's an affecting moment of simple humanity in Colin Perkel's Well of Lies, which tracks the Walkerton tragedy from its true beginnings, more than 30 years ago, through the fearful days of May, 2000, to the high drama of the subsequent judicial inquiry.

The tale follows the families of victims to the London hospital where life and death struggles take place. The virulent toxins produced by the E.coli 0157:h7 bacterium ravage tissue and organs. Seven die in agony, all elderly women except for Mary Rose.

Perkel tracks the political machinations in Toronto, where simple humanity takes a back seat as the Tories fight to limit the political fallout from the tragedy.

But the real focus of this account is a cast of characters that took centre stage in the national consciousness for two years as the tragedy played out.

Stan and Frank Koebel, the bumbling brothers at the helm of the Walkerton public utility commission. Dave Thomson, the curiously detached mayor of Brockton (of which Walkerton is part). Murray McQuigge, the combative medical officer of health.

New light is shed on utility manager Stan Koebel, an apparently mild-mannered man who testified under heavy sedation before Mr. Justice Dennis O'Connor, but revealed here as a petty and autocratic boss - except when it came to utility foreman Frank, who defied his older sibling with impunity.

It's clear that Thomson and McQuigge, two men who could not be more unlike but shared one important characteristic - a steely ego - were headed on a collision course long before the crisis.

Perkel uses the wealth of information from exhaustive testimony to the inquiry to portray his characters' inner thoughts and private actions. It's an effective device that moves the story right along.

It's a well-organized narrative and Perkel has an easy style and eye for the telling detail: the picket sign hoisted on a canoe paddle as Premier Mike Harris visits the stricken town, the lottery ticket in Stan Koebel's shirt pocket as he faces the media for the first time ...

This portrait of a community, understated and dignified like its subject, respectful of the privacy of the victims of the E. coli scourge, should be required reading for all who care about democracy and the environment.

(ex-Kate Harries, The Toronto Star)