Approved updates to the Halton-Hamilton Source Protection Region’s assessment reports and source protection plan

The Ontario government is committed to protecting our lakes, waterways and groundwater supply, now and for future generations. To ensure that the quality of Ontario’s drinking water sources continue to be protected in the Halton Region and Hamilton Region Source Protection Areas, the Director has approved updates to assessment reports and the Minister has approved updates to the source protection plan.

The Halton Region Source Protection Authority, the lead source protection authority for Halton-Hamilton Source Protection Region prepared these updates ensuring the continued protection of sources of drinking water in this region.

These changes enhance protections for sources of drinking water by ensuring that water quality policies and protections are based on current science and modeling.

Working with our partners, our strong protection framework will continue to help ensure Ontario’s drinking water is held to high safety standards and that sources of drinking water in the province are protected for future generations.

Updates to the assessment reports and source protection plan

The updates to the assessment reports include changes to protection zone mapping or vulnerability scores around ten municipal drinking water systems.

All water quality protection zones can be viewed on the Source Protection Information Atlas.

The updates to the source protection plan include:

• • policies addressing City of Hamilton and Region of Halton education and outreach programs were updated and new policies were added to include messaging for newly identified threats
  • new policies were added to require the owners of liquid hydrocarbon pipelines, municipal sewage treatment plants and handling and storage of fuel activities to update the emergency preparedness and contingency plans with the locations of municipal intakes
  • a policy addressing preparation of salt management plans was updated to require consultation with relevant organizations

The source protection authority completed the updates in accordance with the Minister’s Order and requirements set out in the Clean Water Act, 2006 and Ontario Regulation 287/07 (General).

The updates take effect upon publishing this notice of the approval.

Other public consultation opportunities:

Conservation Halton and Hamilton Conservation Authority held consultations while the amendments were being developed. They invited comments from:

• the public
• implementing bodies affected by changes to the protection zones and policies, including the provincial government and local municipalities
• the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks

The source protection authority also held consultation on the proposed amendments from December 15, 2021 to February 4, 2022

The Clean Water Act, 2006 and General Regulation 287/07 require the source protection committee to send a notice to the chief of the band if any part of a First Nation reserve is located in the area affected by the proposed plan amendments. For this submission, there are no First Nations with reserves impacted by this amendment.

The source protection authority addressed comments and questions received during the public consultation process by:

• directly responding to each stakeholder
• making appropriate edits to clarify the source protection plan

More information about the consultation process and how feedback was addressed can be found in the source protection plan’s explanatory document on the source protection authority’s website.

The ministry also considered the comments received as part of the review process, including consulting with other ministries.

The approved updates to the Halton Region and Hamilton Region Assessment Reports and Source Protection Plan are available via the link provided in this notice and on the Halton-Hamilton Source Protection Region website.

Other information:

The ministry has concluded that the requirements under the Clean Water Act and its regulations have been met and that comments the source protection authority received during consultation on the assessment report and source protection plan updates have been adequately considered and addressed.

Please see any related environmental registry notices in the ‘Related links’ section below.