In May 2000, the residents of Walkerton, ON, were subjected to the worst waterborne bacterial outbreak in Canadian history that sickened 2300 people and killed seven. The tragic event led to a nine-month public inquiry and sweeping changes to the regulation of drinking water in Ontario, with strict oversight by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) and the establishment of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in 2002. For its part, PEO played an integral role in the inquiry by providing recommendations about how professional engineers are-and should be-involved in the provision of safe drinking water in the province. In a damning two-part report that levied 121 recommendations following the inquiry, Justice Dennis O'Connor concluded that many of the illnesses could have been prevented by the Ontario government and Walkerton's water utility managers.
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