City officials worry they won’t have as much input on efforts to protect drinking water if a series of provincial policy amendments go through as-is.
The provincial government is proposing changes to the technical rules for assessing source water protection vulnerability and risks under the Clean Water Act. The amendments are intended to, among other things, reduce the “administrative burden” on local decision-makers and allow them to focus on “local threats … that do not already require provincial or federal approval.”
Of “primary concern” is an amendment city officials interpret as removing the ability for municipalities to push for drinking water protections beyond what is set by the provincial or federal approval agency, explained Peter Rider, source water protection program manager in the city’s water services division.
Which level of government is involved depends on the kind of approval granted.
“Reading between the lines on that, we’re thinking the ability we had previously to lobby for those changes or to flag a concern, is being effectively removed from the process,” Rider told GuelphToday. “We wouldn’t have an opportunity to have a dialogue and suggest … things we would like to see added to the permit.”
Under the current process, Rider explained, Guelph officials can approach the Lake Erie Region Source Protection Committee with concerns about potential threats to local drinking water they feel aren’t addressed through the upper-tier government approvals process. The committee could then “push that up” to the appropriate government for discussion or action.
For example, if the committee agreed with city concerns regarding a water-taking permit, it would ask the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) to get involved and potentially revise the conditions of approval.
“The door is being closed on that opportunity,” Rider said, acknowledging they could still raise concerns with the approval agency. “They may just say your argument doesn’t hold any water because there’s no real opportunity (to raise concerns).”
The city's concerns are outlined in a letter to the MECP dated Nov. 9 and publically released on Friday.
Rider is generally supportive of the provincial effort to improve its water source protection policies.
“The ministry is striving to continuously improve their documents. This was a big step toward doing that in terms of clarifying things and reducing confusion for all of the stakeholders,” he said of the proposed amendments as a whole. “We’re quite happy to see these changes coming in terms of the clarifications and improvements in the language.”
