Two years ago in 2022…

Two years ago in 2022 Waterloo Regional Councillors voted for an excellent and well substantiated Regional Official Plan (ROP) that protected farmland.

A disturbing succession of events has since disrupted Waterloo Region's ROP. Steve Clark, as Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH) rolled back Waterloo Region's ROP.

Then Paul Calandra, as the new Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, undid Steve Clark's changes, and restored the original visionary ROP for Waterloo Region..

Now Calandra has opened it back up to local municipalities to make amendments to the Regional Official Plan, with developers convincing most of them to add new Urban Areas that will destroy our farmland and add massive amounts of urban sprawl.

An excellent report by Region of Waterloo Engineering and Environmental staff presented to Region Council Wednesday March 20, 2024 explained why it is irresponsible and threatening to human and natural/environmental life in Waterloo Region to use the regional recharge area for urban development. The report by the engineering and environmental staff definitively concludes that the Regional Recharge Area must be protected from urban development.

The Engineering and Environmental staff report states that:

« Because of its sand and gravel composition, the Regional Recharge Area allows huge amounts of snowmelt and rainfall to infiltrate deep into the ground and replenish the aquifers that supply our drinking water.

« Development reduces the amount of water reaching the aquifers by 50-80% (depending whether it's residential or commercial/industrial development).

« Thus developing (paving over) the Regional Recharge Area threatens the quantity of our water supply.

« Development in this area will put more road salt into our water supply. This threatens the quality of our water supply.

« Reduced water supply will limit the number of new homes that can be built throughout the Region.

« So ironically, building more new homes in the Regional Recharge Area could mean less new homes that can be built elsewhere in the Region!

« Or, it could mean we will need to build $2 billion pipeline to Lake Erie!

In addition

« The Regional Recharge Area sustains a wide range of aquatic habitats and ecosystems.

« The Regional Recharge Area contributes a high percentage of baseflow to the Grand River, its tributary rivers and cold water streams: this maintains the health of the Grand River.

« This baseflow dilutes wastes and pollution flowing into the Region's wastewater treatment plants and ensures our public health safety. If development on the Regional Recharge Area decreases the amount of baseflow, we may need expensive new wastewater treatment plants that can function with smaller baseflow.

Therefore, I ask you not to allow development on the Regional Recharge Area. Our visionary Regional Official Plan approved in August 2022 had only minimal farmland loss and showed there were lots of opportunities within our current urban boundaries to meet all our housing needs.
We must all value clean water as a basic need for healthy people and a healthy environment. The Regional Recharge area must not be opened for development.