Time flies, even for those who switched from water to the purity of vodka to black out the memory of the tragedy in Walkerton 10 years ago.

If nothing else, it’s a convenient ruse.

You may recall Frank Koebel, as water foreman, admitted to drinking on the job while his Ontario town’s water supply became contaminated by farm runoff with a highly dangerous strain of E. coli.

But that’s now water under the bridge.
Walkerton was a disaster waiting to happen — with or without the subplot of neglect and negligence.

And nothing’s changed.

What should be at the fore, and therefore cause for huge concern, is 10 years after the Walkerton disaster claimed seven lives and made thousands sick, this country is still without national standards to ensure safe drinking water for all Canadians.

Was seven deaths not enough? Well then, how about this.

Health Canada claims unsafe drinking water in this country — and we’re talking about a country with the mother lode of the world’s fresh water — still kills 90 people a year, and makes another 90,000 ill.

Perhaps the lack of federal action has to do with the fact that most of these deaths and illnesses occur on rural land or on First Nations reserves and, when it happens on a reserve like it did at Kashechewan five years ago, it is more expedient to simply evacuate than deal with the problem.

We hope that’s not the case. But it sure looks like it.

Despite billions spent annually on Native issues, there are still scores of reserves on a boil water orders.

At this very moment, as well, almost 400 communities across Canada continue to dump raw sewage directly into lakes, rivers and oceans.

On top of that, another 550 sewage systems across Canada — 106 in Ontario — need to be fixed or replaced.

Every year we send millions upon millions of taxpayers’ dollars to Third World countries to help them find ways of producing stable and safe water supplies. Yet we continue to ignore our own back yard.

So much for paying tribute to Walkerton.