Government, Realtors Sign Environment Agreement

ENVIRONMENT/LABOUR--Government, Realtors Sign Environment Agreement

Nova Scotia Environment and Labour has signed an agreement with the Nova Scotia Association of Realtors to help realtors learn more about well-water issues in Nova Scotia.

Environment and Labour will prepare a course, titled Well Water Quality and Quantity -- What Every Realtor Should Know, for the realtors' association. The association will then deliver the course to its members. To maintain their accreditation, realtors are required to earn nine continuing education credits every year. This course will provide them with three credits.

Arnold G. Jones, the association's executive officer, said the program will be helpful to his association's members.

"Even though almost half of the province's homes are on private wells, many of us are unfamiliar with the basics of well water quality and quantity." said Mr. Jones. "This course will fill in the blanks and help our membership, and their clients, stay up- to-date with this important factor of home ownership."

David Morse, Minister of Environment and Labour, said this is the second such agreement between the department and the realtors' association.

"Last year we agreed on a course about on-site sewage systems, which is being very well received," he said. "This new well agreement is another example of how our department takes a partnership approach to preserving the environment. By working together with groups as the realtors' association, we can accomplish much more than we could working on our own."

The first well-water sessions are expected to be ready for next spring.