The Lake Erie Region Source Protection Region consists of four watershed areas: Kettle Creek, Catfish Creek, Long Point Region and Grand River.
Protecting our drinking water
Protecting the sources of our municipal drinking water is an important step toward ensuring that there is enough safe, clean drinking water for all.
The Clean Water Act has been passed by the Ontario legislature to protect municipal drinking water sources throughout Ontario.
Drinking water source protection will allow for the identification of risks to municipal water quality and water supplies, and the creation of a plan to reduce those risks.
The task of developing protection plans will be guided by the Lake Erie Region Source Protection Committee and will involve municipalities, farmers, businesses, industry, residents and others.
Conservation authorities will co-ordinate the development of scientific knowledge about water issues, and facilitate the planning process.
reference: http://www.sourcewater.ca/
July 6, 2014 – By Jim Romahn (http://www.ontariofarmer.com/) – The Ontario Ministry of the Environment is putting its priority on source water protection plans for the Lake Erie committee where the Grand River watershed is the dominant issue.
A ministry official told the monthly meeting of the Lake Erie Source Water Protection Committee that the ministry is devoting most of its resources to dealing with this watershed plan.
Other committees covering other parts of the province will follow the lessons the ministry officials learn from dealing with the Lake Erie plan which covers the Grand River, Kettle Creek, Long Point and Catfish Creek Conservation Authorities.
What’s emerging from the Lake Erie committee’s work is a blueprint that begins by identifying significant risks to wellhead and surface-water intake areas, considers all of the many existing regulations and authorities which can be tapped to deal with those risks and presents a plan of action.
The Lake Erie Committee is taking a go-slow approach, starting with existing standards and enforcement policies, emphasizing “education and outreach” to gain support from property owners and only after that’s been tried and found wanting will the policy makers begin to consider taking its big stick out of the closet.
The Clean Water Act gives the committees sweeping powers, should it choose to use them, to over-ride municipalities and other provincial government ministries.
The GRCA, the Township of North Dumfries, the City of Cambridge and the Region of Waterloo need to support local residents in the protection of our drinking water source. Development that will be built on top of one of our clean drinking water sources needs to be prohibited, not mitigated. The contamination from our waterways are flowing in to our wetlands, our streams, our rivers and down to Lake Erie.
The above sign is one that is posted on Roseville Road. These signs are posted in recognition of our drinking water source areas…so why are approvals and amendments to official plans and zoning bylaws being allowed to accommodate development in these areas, instead of laws being strengthened in order to truly protect?
Will Cambridge be found “wanting”? Will we get “the big stick”?
Let’s be part of the solution and not continue the pollution!
Write to the Mayors, write to your local Councillor, write to Regional Council and ask that they all protect our drinking water source, our wetlands, our waterways and our Grand River.