CENTRE WELLINGTON ‒ New changes to the province's Source Water Protection Act have some Township of Centre Wellington staff and councillors concerned about its implications for municipal drinking water.
According to a new report, although township staff is "generally in favour" of the use of the Environmental Activity and Sector Registry (EASR) for low-risk environmental applications, three of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment's new proposals related to the adoption of permit by rule and the Environmental Activity and Sector Registry "pose concerns to the protection of municipal drinking water sources."
Among their concerns, staff comments from Centre Wellington and Wellington Source Water Protection said streamlining environmental permissions for stormwater management won't take into account the special circumstances for groundwater-dependent municipalities.
"We still want to make sure we're protecting our water supply and protecting quality," said Colin Baker, managing director of infrastructure services, during a committee of the whole meeting Tuesday evening. "So (these comments are) just raising that there should be some provincial protections in place for stormwater management because they could be a potential threat here."
Staff also don't support the proposed use of EASR for permanent foundation drains where consumptive water taking is a significant drinking water threat or when they are located within one kilometre of municipal wells.
"We've had discussions with the ministry and they've been receptive," said Baker. "And so I think things are going in the right direction right now."
Conservation Authorities and Conservation Ontario also submitted comments alongside Centre Wellington and several other municipalities.
The full report is available here.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program
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