Torbay greenlights new water development as residents struggle with with town supply, wells

In a town on Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula, whether residents are on a well or the municipality’s water reservoir, they are dealing with problems but the mayor says work is underway to address it.

Since the summer, Torbay residents connected to North Pond, the town’s main water supply, have been on and off water advisories, asked to conserve water where possible as well as follow a boil water advisory.

Resident Nikki Grouchy said poor water has been a long standing problem.

"[It’s] absolutely horrible … When you turn it on, there's a big smell. It's brown,” she told CBC News. 

“We've been here two and a half years and it's never been good.”

Grouchy added she distrust the water so much she won’t even give it to her cat to drink.

Some residents on wells have also had to worry about the possibility their water has been contaminated with toxic chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

In response to those challenges, Mayor Craig Scott said the town is working on developing Great Pond into a new municipal water source.

“When we develop Great Pond now, we're going to have the ability to double, at least double the number of homes that are on municipal water services,” said Scott.

In March, St. John’s East MP Joanne Thompson announced the federal government would be providing $26.8 million to Torbay to develop Great Pond.

Scott said council passed a motion to accept that funding last month, but said there’s still about $9 million left for the town to pay for the development.

For comparison, Torbay’s 2026 budget totaled $12.2 million.

“One of the reasons we have to develop this new water supply is because our alternate water supply at South Pond was contaminated by PFAS,” Scott said.

For now, there is no timeline for the project but Scott said staff are working on putting together a request for proposals.