Municipalities must follow the Source Protection Plan

Ontario’s Clean Water Act in 2006, is a proactive, science-based program to ensure safe, long-term supplies of public water.

The goal of a Source Protection Plan is to protect existing and future municipal drinking water sources area and to ensure any activities identified as a significant drinking water threat cease to be a threat and that other activities do not become a significant threat to the water source.

Source Protection Authorities must have a Source Protection Plan

Source protection plans contain a series of locally developed policies that, as they are implemented, protect existing and future sources of municipal drinking water.

The source protection committee for a source protection area shall, in accordance with the regulations and the terms of reference, prepare a source protection plan for the source protection area.

Section 22 of the Clean Water Act

Plan must be available to the public

If the Minister has approved a source protection plan, the source protection authority shall ensure that the plan is available to the public on the Internet and in such other manner as the source protection authority considers appropriate.

Section 32 of the Clean Water Act

Municipalities must comply with the Source Protection Plan

A municipality, local board or source protection authority shall comply with any obligation that is imposed on it by a significant threat policy or designated Great Lakes policy that is set out in the source protection plan.

Section 38 of the Clean Water Act

Municipalities can add drinking water systems to the assessment report

Municipal council can pass a resolution requiring that the assessment report consider threats not otherwise prescribed, like PFAS in specific local circumstances.

The council of a municipality in which any part of the source protection area is located may pass a resolution requiring the terms of reference to provide, for the purpose of subclause 15 (2) (e) (ii), that the assessment report consider any existing or planned drinking water system specified in the resolution, other than a drinking water system prescribed by the regulations for the purpose of this subsection, if, 

(a) in the case of a drinking water system that obtains its water from groundwater, the system has a well in the municipality that serves as the source or entry point of raw water supply for the system; or

(b) in the case of a drinking water system that obtains its water from surface water, the system serves a building or other structure located in the municipality.

Section 8 (3) of the Clean Water Act

An assessment report shall, in accordance with the regulations, the rules and the terms of reference,

identify all the surface water intake protection zones and wellhead protection areas that are in the source protection area and that are related to,

existing and planned drinking water systems that, pursuant to resolutions passed under subsection 8 (3), the terms of reference provide for the assessment report to consider,

What is a significant ‘drinking water threat’ activity?

Activities on the land and in the water near municipal wells and surface water intakes may adversely affect our drinking water sources. Significant threat
activities may be activities that are presently being engaged in or they may be future, intended activities.

The Province of Ontario identifies 22 drinking water threats:

• The establishment, operation or maintenance of a waste disposal site within the meaning of Part V of the Environmental Protection Act.
• The establishment, operation or maintenance of a system that collects, stores, transmits, treats or disposes of sewage.
• The application of agricultural source material to land.
• The storage of agricultural source material.
• The management of agricultural source material.
• The application of non-agricultural source material to land.
• The handling and storage of non-agricultural source material.
• The application of commercial fertilizer to land.
• The handling and storage of commercial fertilizer.
• The application of pesticide to land.
• The handling and storage of pesticide.
• The application of road salt.
• The handling and storage of road salt.
• The storage of snow.
• The handling and storage of fuel.
• The handling and storage of a dense non-aqueous phase liquid.
• The handling and storage of an organic solvent.
• The management of runoff that contains chemicals used in the de-icing of aircraft.
• An activity that takes water from an aquifer or a surface water body without returning the water taken to the same aquifer or surface water body.
• An activity that reduces the recharge of an aquifer.
• The use of land as livestock grazing or pasturing land, an outdoor confinement area or a farm-animal yard.
• The establishment and operation of a liquid hydrocarbon pipeline. 

Section 1.1 of O. Reg. 287/07: GENERAL

The types and number of existing threat activities and the vulnerable areas surrounding drinking water sources are identified in the Assessment Report.

Example Source Protection Plans

• Catfish Creek Source Protection Area
• CTC Source Protection Region
• Greater Sudbury Source Protection Area
• Lakehead Region Conservation Authority
• Maitland Valley
• Trent Conservation Coalition