News Releases: The following links point towards news releases issued by the Lakehead Region Conservation Authority related to Source Water Protection and the Clean Water Act.
November 27, 2007: Committee Named
October 29, 2007: Seeking Members for Local Source Protection Committee
September 5, 2007: Chair of Local Source Protection Committee Named
July 11, 2007: Recruitment of Chair for Drinking Water Committee
October 25, 2006: Lakehead Conservation Applauds the passage of the Clean Water Act.
April 18, 2006: LRCA Encouraged by 2nd Reading of Bill 43, the Clean Water Act.
February 1, 2006: LRCA Encourages Comments on Proposed Clean Water Act.
December 6, 2005: LRCA Encouraged by Government's Support for Source Water Protection.
Annual Report Article: Download the Source Water Protection article featured in the Lakehead Region Conservation Authority's annual report.
Clean Water Act: The following links point towards publications located on the Ontario Ministry of the Environment website related to the Clean Water Act.
Legislation: View the legislation.
Environmental Registry Postings:
Discussion Paper on Source Protection Committees under the Clean Water Act, 2006 (posted on January 2, 2007).
Regulations: View the description of proposed regulations to implement the Clean Water Act
Passing of the Clean Water Act: View the news release and backgrounder.
Drinking Water Stewardship Fund: The act creates a drinking water support program to help farmers and small rural businesses take action to reduce threats to local drinking water sources. A panel that includes agricultural, municipal and conservation authority representatives will provide advice on how the drinking water stewardship program should be administered and allocated. View the news release and information about panel members.
How does the Clean Water Act affect me? The proposed Clean Water Act directs communities to prepare plans to protect their drinking water supply. There would be a role for landowners, business owners, community groups and others, including participation in local consultations. A series of fact sheets has been prepared to explain the implications of the proposed legislation.
How drinking water can become contaminated: Three animated illustrations show how contaminants can migrate from their source into a drinking water supply.
The Clean Water Act and source water protection: The Clean Water Act is related to other activities to protect sources of drinking water. Reports and other information from the Ministry of the Environment related to protecting water at the source can be viewed at the Watershed-based Source Protection page.
Walkerton Report: In May 2000, water contaminated by E. coli bacteria made its way into the municipal water system of the town of Walkerton. Within days, seven people had died and thousands of others had become ill from drinking the contaminated water. As a result, the provincial government convened an inquiry, which was led by Justice Dennis O'Connor of the Supreme Court of Ontario.
In 2002, Justice O'Connor released two reports. Part One of the Walkerton Report described the events that took place in the community and the series of human and system failures that led to the water becoming contaminated. The report made a series of recommendations relating to the specifics of the Walkerton tragedy. Part Two of the Walkerton Report took a more general look at water safety across the province and the steps needed to prevent a similar event from occuring elsewhere. It contained 93 recommendations on everything from training procedures to source water protection.
Walkerton Report: Part One
Walkerton Report: Part Two
White Paper on Watershed-based Source Protection Planning (PDF 2.5 mb)
- February 2004
- The White Paper, released by the Ministry of Envrionment, proposed an approach for the development of a watershed-based source protection program and a legislative framework for the development and approval of source protection plans.
Summary Report on Public Consultation on the White Paper (PDF 389k)
- March 2004
- A summary of comments received during consultation on the White Paper on Wateshed-based Source Protection Planning.
Proposed Drinking Water Source Protection Act (PDF 269k)
- June 2004
- The draft version of this act was posted on the Environmental Bill of Rights website to solicit public comment.
Watershed-based Source Protection Planning: Implementation Committee Report to the Minister of the Environment (PDF 1.7mb)
- November 2004
- This report makes recommendations on tools and approaches to implement watershed-based source protection plans including funding mechanisms.
Watershed-based Source Protection Planning: Science-based Decision-making for Protecting Ontario's Drinking Water Resources (PDF 3.4mb )
- November 2004
- This report makes recommendations on how to identify and effectively address possible threats to drinking water.
Other documents
This section contains documents on Source Water Protection Planning prepared by other organizations.
The Importance of Watershed Managment in Protecting Ontario's Drinking Water Supplies (PDF 812k)
- March 2001
- The presentation made by Conservation Ontario to the Walkerton Inquiry.
The Source Water Protection Primer (PDF 7.5mb)
- May 2004
- Published by Pollution Probe, this is a full-colour, 92-page guide to source water protection written for the average person.
- Hard copies of the primer and other Pollution Probe publications can be ordered from Pollution Probe
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