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March 2010
This newsletter provides information and updates on
issues about Ontario's
Conservation Authorities.
In this iSSUE
Ten Years After Walkerton
In short
Ontario Clean Water Act Protects Ontario Municipal Sources of Drinking
Water
The
Clean Water Act
is part of the Ontario
government's commitment to implement all of the recommendations of the
Walkerton Inquiry. For the first time, communities will be required to
create and carry out a plan to protect the sources of their municipal drinking water supplies.
LEARN MORE
Source Protection Planning
As
a result of the Clean
Water Act, communities in Ontario are required to develop
source protection plans in order to protect their municipal sources of
drinking water. These plans identify risks to local drinking water sources
and develop strategies to reduce or eliminate these risks.
Find your Source Protection
Region or Area.
Conservation Authorities’ Rural Water Quality Programs
Many Conservation Authorities offer Rural Water Quality
programs which provide technical assistance and
financial incentives to improve and protect water quality on farms and non
farms often in partnership with other agencies, municipalities or
government programs. LEARN MORE
Expert Panel on Climate Change Identifies
Impacts to Ontario’s
Water
According to the Ontario government’s Expert Panel
on Climate Change Adaptation (2009),
climate change is already affecting the quality and availability of water
in Ontario.
Adaptation strategies
have become necessary to react to droughts, floods, falling lake levels,
drinking water quality concerns, more winter rain and earlier spring
run-off. The impacts from future climate change are likely to exacerbate
pressures for increased use of water in growing communities, industries and
agriculture. LEARN MORE
Conservation
Ontario presentation to the Expert Panel (Feb 2009)
Conservation Authorities tackle
climate change
Toronto
& Region Conservation
Mississippi
Valley Conservation
Nickel
District Conservation Authority
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Conservation Ontario E-News
World Water Day 2010
The United Nations
(UN) has chosen Clean Water
for a Healthy World as theme for World Water Day 2010.
The overall goal of the World Water Day 2010 campaign is to raise the profile of water
quality.
 The UN points out that in developing
countries 80 percent of all waste is being discharged untreated, because of
lack of regulations and resources. And population and industrial growth add
new sources of pollution and increased demand for clean water to the
equation. Human and environmental health, drinking and agricultural water
supplies for the present and future are at stake, still water pollution
rarely warrants mention as a pressing issue.
Water quality
concerns vary around the globe and while Ontario does not experience the same
magnitude of problems as in some areas around the globe, there are concerns
that are being addressed today.
Ontario’s 36 Conservation Authorities work
with all levels of government to protect water quality in this province.
Through programs such as the Ontario
Drinking Water Source Protection Program and other watershed-based programs,
Conservation Authorities work to ensure that Ontario’s rivers, lakes and streams are
properly safeguarded, managed and restored.
TEN YEARS AFTER WALKERTON
Protecting Municipal Sources of
Water
May 2010 will mark the
10th anniversary of the  Walkerton
drinking water tragedy and, unfortunately, effects are still felt today by
a number of Walkerton residents.
In
a recently published article in Municipal World magazine (March
2010), Conservation Ontario’s Source Protection Manager, Charley Worte, reviews key lessons we learned
from the Walkerton experience and speculates how our recent source
protection work could go even further using an Integrated Watershed Management
approach to managing water resources in Ontario.
Ten Years
After Walkerton: Protecting Municipal Drinking Water Sources
(Article)
SOURCE PROTECTION ASSESSMENT
REPORTS
PROVIDE INFORMATION ON THREATS TO WATER QUALITY AND QUANTITY IN ONTARIO
In
order to identify areas in Ontario where
we need to protect water quality and quantity, Ontario’s
Source Protection Committees are developing local Assessment
Reports for each of the 39 Source Protection Areas in Ontario.
The Assessment Reports collect and
analyze the technical studies done in the watershed. Then they identify the
municipal well and intake locations which provide water to communities and
assesses whether or not they are threatened in any way.
After each Assessment Report is
completed and approved by the Ministry of the Environment, source
protection committees can then begin the process for developing source
protection plans.
These plans will outline what needs to be done to reduce the risk of
significant threats that exist now to municipal drinking water sources and
how to prevent new ones from developing.
A number of draft Assessment Reports are
available for the public to view.
Catfish
Creek Source Protection Area (Lake Erie Source Protection Region)
Lower Thames
Valley Source Protection Area (Upper Thames River Source Protection Region)
Niagara
Peninsula Source Protection Area
Sault Ste Marie Assessment Report
Conservation Authorities’ Programs Help Adapt to
Climate Change
Conservation
Authorities:
Ø
monitor watershed conditions
and develop integrated watershed management plans in order to
maintain, restore or protect our natural resources for the long term;
Ø
map our surface & groundwater in
order to know how much we have, how it’s being used and what is needed to
keep the watershed healthy;
Ø
deliver Watershed Stewardship
programs that work with landowners and other
partners protect the quality and supply of our water;
Ø
help to protect lives and property
from flooding and erosion by ensuring that
our flood and erosion plans are up to date and in line with current
predicted standards;
Ø
monitor water levels within Ontario’s watersheds
and raise alerts around low water levels through the local Low Water
Response teams along with municipal and provincial partners;
Ø
carry out research to
increase our knowledge about water and develop new approaches to protecting
water;
Ø provide education and
outreach opportunities for Ontarians to learn about water.
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