Support will not be needed…

Support will not be needed for small water takings. Within stressed areas, like Centre Wellington, the threshold for host municipality input should be reduced to the permit to take water threshold of 50,000 litres per day so the cumulative impact of all permitted takings can be considered.

The Township of Centre Wellington has been requesting that the Ministry give consideration to the fact that this is not a willing host community for such a permit.

Requiring this input from the municipality is democratic and gives residents, councillors and communities a louder voice. This is still a democracy.

There are scientific grounds to refuse.

Our future water supply has been identified at “significant risk” so it is only right that we have a voice. the sustainability of future municipal water supplies in Guelph, Fergus and Elora is uncertain according to the ministry’s own proposal document.

Centre Wellington’s urban area was mandated to double in population from 2016 to 2041, and the province has just issued higher numbers to 2051. This is a huge challenge to provide water service to these new residents. Large-scale water taking water west of Elora would remove options from the best source water area for this municipality.

Regulations should rank ecosystem needs and municipal drinking water uses as well as agricultural requirements above commercial and industrial water taking and specifically for water bottling.

The proposal lists environmental needs as a high priority, but the science report indicates that assessing environmental needs is a difficult, complex problem. It expresses the need for improvement in understanding the cumulative effects of total water takings on surface water, groundwater, and deep aquifers over the long term. It expresses the need to better understand the environmental flows of rivers and streams. Which should be done thoroughly.

There is a need for improvement in how to prepare and manage water takings during a drought.

Funding for research and expertise are needed for decisions about permits.
A database is important not only for water managers, conservation authorities and ministries, but also to ensure Indigenous and public involvement and participation in any issues and conflicts regarding water.

Twice as much water is used in the process of producing a plastic water bottle as is contained in the water bottle, when it is sold. Billions of plastic water bottles wind up in landfills each year or are incinerated. When they are not our landscape, wetlands and oceans are littered with plastic waste.
And lastly the bottles are made from fossil fuels contributing to environmental collapse.