Re: Proposed Implementation…

Re: Proposed Implementation of Updates to Ontario’s Water Quantity Management Framework ERO 019-2017
From: Citizens Against Melrose Quarry (CAMQ)
Date: February 4, 2021

Dear Mr. Taylor,

Thank you for providing the opportunity to comment on the Draft Water Quantity Management Guidance, posted as ERO 019-2017. Citizens Against Melrose Quarry (CAMQ) is a not-for-profit organization formed in Spring, 2013. Residents have long been concerned about a proposal to develop a second quarry adjacent to the existing Long’s Quarry in Tyendinaga Township, Hastings County (Quinte WQSA). A 2018 Tyendinaga Township zoning change for the second quarry was made possible by a 2012 amendment to the Hastings County Official Plan (requested in 2004). Over this time period, Tyendinaga Township also continued to issue building permits to the north and north-east of the existing and the proposed quarries. Tyendinaga Township is located about 10 km east of the urban area of Belleville, ON. Residents rely entirely on groundwater and do not have access to municipal water supplies.

We are pleased that our Ontario Government has reviewed water quantity and usage in Ontario and is preparing to update the Water Taking and Transfer Regulation (Ontario Regulation 387/04) under the Ontario Water Resources Act. We are aware that the review of the province’s water taking program and policies, (including the independent third-party report by BluMetric Environmental Inc.) was posted in response to growing concerns about the bottled water situation in Ontario. However, we also see that this work has exposed water quantity problems in other areas of the province. For areas that struggle with frequent low water conditions, it is encouraging to see that the following guidance documents have been considered in support of upcoming regulatory change:

1. Area-based water quality management
2. Priorities of water use
3. Making water taking data available to the public to increase transparency of how Ontario manages water”

Draft Area-Based Water Quantity Management
We see an area-based approach essential to help manage water taking in areas of the province where sustainability is a concern – regardless of the type of water taking request. In reviewing your draft guidelines, our group makes suggestions for the following sections/subsections:

1. Preliminary Assessment
While your proposed strategy for addressing stressed areas takes information from a broad selection of stakeholders, we note that the decision to post an information notice on the Environmental Registry is up to the Director. Our group believes revised regulation 387/04 should set out a specific set of criteria that lies beyond the discretion of the director, which if met, should automatically trigger an area-based water management strategy. An up-to-date PTTW manual should also reflect this criteria. For example, the Quinte region has experienced either Low Water Condition 2 or 3 in the last 4 out of 5 years. The current policy that exists in the 2005 PTTW manual specifies that the director has discretion to initiate certain assessments when faced with repeated low water conditions. How much discretion should apply to the director in situations such as this? When should a situation become urgent enough that an alternate water taking management strategy should apply without question?

2. Preparing a Water Taking Management Strategy:
B. Management Measures
1. Please clarify what might constitute multiple water takings to ensure all users of the document can understand when particular situations might apply.

2. Enforce compliance with water taking conditions: the document’s listed measures to improve water security must include better ministry resources/staffing to monitor and enforce water taking contingency plans. Further, measures to improve sustainability of the water resource must provide the ministry with resources to enforce the cancellation/revocation/non-renewal of a PTTW when a permit holder is non-compliant.

C. Monitoring and assessment actions
Rural and urban development, population growth and demand for water in any given community are not static, therefore critical gaps in knowledge can and do develop. Our group suggests further efforts to monitor the increasing demand for rural groundwater in communities that are not supported by municipal water systems.

For example, according to A Review of Ontario’s Water Quantity Management Framework, Final Report (BluMetric Environmental, 2019) areas of the Quinte Region have been identified as having unsustainable future groundwater supplies (Appendix C, Table 11-1). The report also notes that residents in Tyendinaga Township struggle with water supply in times of drought (p. 368) – yet the community continues allow more residential building. Do we know how much more growth a vulnerable aquifer can support in combination with additional large volume water taking and increasingly persistent periods of drought? How does this fit with local planning? We can’t stress enough that better communication with other organizations and provincial ministries is essential. Our group finds it essential that provincial ministries make efforts to break down existing siloed communication structures—particularly where there are areas of shared responsibility.

3. Engaging Water Users, Local Stakeholders, and Indigenous Communities on a Water Taking Management Strategy
Your document suggests that the “ministry may create a collaborative group, such as a committee of local water users…” We suggest that local water users would also benefit from resources to support independent (3rd party) analysis/peer review to inform collaborative work, as local water users may need expert advice to understand the science behind water quantity challenges in any area.

4. Aligning a Water Taking Management Strategy with Other Provincial Policies and Programs
Please note that alignment of this strategy with other provincial policies should not result in the exclusion of certain rural areas to protections that do not fall under the jurisdiction of legislation such as the Clean Water Act; the Lakes and Rivers Improvement Act, Source Water Protection Act, etc.

Draft Guidance to Support Priorities of Water Use
Our group is pleased to know that the first priorities of water use are to protect drinking water and the environment. In your document, we would urge you to further clarify the sources of ‘private domestic’ supplies of water for household and farm purposes, i.e., specify all sources of private domestic supply, such as surface and groundwater. Also note that your priorities of water use have not acknowledged the need for surface water for municipal activities such as firefighting – critical for communities that have no access to municipal water services and must rely on surface water for firefighting.

Proposed Amendments to Regulation 387/04:
Lastly, our group has noticed that the draft Regulatory changes to the Water Taking and Transfer regulation 387/04, section 4 (2) 1. ii assigns high priority to ‘water used to supply water for one or more drinking water systems within the meaning of section 2 of the Safe Drinking Water Act, 2002.” While this may be useful for urban water users and those who benefit from a source water protection plan, your amended regulation does not appear to prioritize groundwater and surface water used to supply drinking water to private wells in the absence of municipal water supplies.

In summary, our group asks that your draft regulation 387/04 and corresponding guidelines be more inclusive of rural water supplies that are outside the purview of the Safe Drinking Water Act (i.e., not just municipal drinking water systems). We also ask that you increase monitoring for the same. Rural communities depend on their groundwater supplies and many have no access to municipal drinking water systems. We ask that your management strategy include added measures and staff resources to ensure large volume water taking compliance and enforcement. We also request resources to help engage local water users. Finally, we ask that your Priorities of Water Use consider a broader set of needs for communities that have no access to municipal water supplies.

We thank you for this opportunity to review upcoming regulatory changes to the Ontario Water Resources Act.

Sincerely,

CAMQ Executive Members,
Susan Munro, Chair
Rodney Bannister, Vice-Chair

Wendy McGeachy, Secretary
Grant Emon, Treasurer

Danielle Emon, Executive Member
Jim Bates, Executive Member

John McFarlane, Executive Member

camq2013@gmail.com
www.citizensagainstmelrosequarry.com