Thunder Bay was split between two watersheds. On one side is Loch Lomond, once one of the cleanest, most pristine lakes in Canada, situated on top of a mountain, perfect for a gravity feed water system. It was logged, and polluted by mill air emissions. A battle ensued over closing it down as a water source, and the whole city would rely on the other one, whose source was Lake Superior. This was scary, because we saw a creosote blob floating right near the intake. The cost of the filtration plant was extreme and there was no backup system.

Both watersheds had giardia and cryptosporidium. There were warnings everywhere for pregnant women and children not to drink the water. Many people were sick. It was such an issue in Thunder Bay that we had a large turnout at our Waterwalk presentation, including ex-waterwork officials who saw this disaster coming and felt powerless when corporations started monitoring their own pollution.