October 7, 2024 

To whom this may concern,

Upper Hammonds Plains, a Historic Black Community located within the Halifax Regional Municipality, lacks basic water infrastructure to protect its residents from fires. This is the current reality, despite it being the closest community to the region’s primary water source – yet has faced decades of neglect and a false sense of security and safety.  We cannot ignore the history of Pockwock Lake’s expropriation, which enabled municipal water service elsewhere while excluding the Upper Hammonds Plains community.

Approximately 25 years ago, Halifax Water, with the approval of the then-Halifax Regional Municipality and the Provincial Dept of Municipal Affairs, installed undersized 6- and 8-inch water pipes in this community. They knew that these would be inadequate for the proper functioning of the (only) 3 fire hydrants along Pockwock Rd, an 8 km stretch of road that is the heart of the community of Upper Hammonds Plains. The impact of the undersized pipes on fire suppression was not shared with the community at the time. Neither was the community consulted in this decision. 

The result has been that the 3 existing fire hydrants cannot be used to fight fires, a fact which only came to light recently when attempts were made to use the hydrants, and they didn't work. In fact, in one instance, connecting to the hydrant resulted in the pump at the water station being blown out. When questioned, Halifax Water stated that the hydrants were "for training purposes" and weren't intended to fight fires. 

It is unacceptable and is blatantly discriminatory that this community does not have access to an adequate number of functional fire hydrants to fight fires. 

Halifax Water had the opportunity and the funding to right this wrong but had chosen instead to spend a budget surplus outside of the community of Upper Hammonds Plains. Therefore, right where the Black community boundaries end, the pipe sizing increases. This enables the neighbouring residents on the same street to be served by 16-inch pipes and have functional fire hydrants every 400-500 metres. 

We are demanding that Halifax Water, the Halifax Regional Municipality and the NS Department of Municipal Affairs right this wrong with haste. We want the same standards of fire protection as the other residents on the same street. We want the undersized water pipes replaced with those which will deliver water to fire hydrants for their adequate function. We seek adequate water infrastructure that ensures community safety and has the capacity to support both the current needs and vision for growth of the historic community. 

We look forward to engaging with the relevant stakeholders to bring a timely and satisfactory conclusion to this urgent matter. 

Sincerely,

Concerned residents