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The process of protecting our drinking water involves input from a number of different organizations including the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, the Source Protection Authorities, the Source Protection Committee, Municipalities, the business community, community members and local property owners. Each of these groups plays an important role in source water protection. The chart below highlights the roles of key groups but does not include all their roles and responsibilities.
| Ontario Ministry of the Environment |
The Ontario government has created the Clean Water Act and passed the first set of regulations under the Act. These include the Source Protection Areas and Regions, Source Protection Committees, Terms of Reference, Time Limits, and Miscellaneous Regulations. The Ministry of the Environment will be responsible for passing subsequent regulations under the Act and ultimately for approving source protection plans.
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| Source Protection Authority |
Generally, the source protection authority follows the same structure as the conservation authority boards, which are made up of members appointed by municipal councils. The geographic area of each authority covers the watershed. These areas are grouped together to form 11 source protection regions and 8 standalone source protection areas. In a source protection region, one source protection authority will lead and co-ordinate the efforts of all the authorities within the region. The lead authority will also establish the source protection committee for the region, and provide support to the committee during the development of the terms of reference, assessment report and the source protection plan.
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| Source Protection Committee |
Source protection committees will prepare the terms of reference, the assessment report and the source protection plan. There will be strong municipal representation on the committee which will also include conservation authorities, farmers, small businesses and a range of other stakeholders within the watershed. Through the source protection committee, municipalities will work to identify, assess and address risks to drinking water within their municipal wellhead and intake protection areas. Stakeholders such as local property owners could also participate through working groups, supporting and consulting on the work of the source protection committee.
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| Municipalities |
Municipalities will have a strong role in developing and implementing source protection plans in all areas under municipal jurisdiction. Municipalities are already responsible for the delivery of municipal drinking water and land use planning and the proposed source protection process will build on this work. Municipalities will develop and implement policies to reduce risks posed by activities located in areas under their jurisdiction. This could include requiring individual property owners to take action on significant drinking water threats located within their wellhead and intake protection areas.
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| Each and Every One of Us |
It is important that people become involved in local source protection planning and help to find practical, workable solutions. Engaging the local community in source protection planning will build partnerships to protect common interests. Anyone engaged in an activity that poses a threat or may be affected by the source protection plan will be encouraged to become involved early on, and could be involved through representation on the source protection committees or working groups. To learn more about what you can do to protect drinking water source click here. |
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