Approved update to the Kettle Creek Source Protection Plan and associated Assessment Report for the Kettle Creek Source Protection Area

The CWA ensures communities protect their drinking water supplies through prevention. This is done by developing collaborative, watershed-based source protection plans that are locally driven and based on science.

By working with our partners, we 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.

The Grand River Source Protection Authority prepared these updates on behalf of the Lake Erie Region Source Protection Committee and Kettle Creek Source Protection Authority. The updates ensure the continued protection of sources of drinking water in this region.

Updates to the assessment reports

The updates to the assessment report include:

• Revisions to Overview of Source Protection Risk Assessment to align with text of other assessment reports in Lake Erie Source Protection Region.
• Addition of Consideration of Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Tool in the Kettle Creek Source Protection Area.
• Incorporation of current climate change research within the Lake Erie basin.
• Revisions to incorporate current information on groundwater and surface water quality across the Kettle Creek watershed.
• Removal of reference to vulnerable scoring in significant groundwater recharge areas in accordance with changes to the Technical Rules (2021).
• Minor revisions to details of the Belmont Water Supply System
• Changes affecting Elgin Area Water Supply System as follows:
  • Removal of significant drinking water threat storage of commercial fertilizer, which resulted in removal of the associated events-based area ‘IPZ-3’. Please explain IPZ-3
  • Addition of text discussing current water quality concerns (Harmful Algal Blooms and Low Dissolved Oxygen and Manganese).
  • Addition of Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment for the System.
• Updated mapping of:
  • significant groundwater recharge areas (SGRA),
  • impervious surface areas,
  • intake protection zones,
  • livestock density, and
  • areas where modelling supports the designation of significant drinking water threats for the Elgin Area Water Treatment Plant.

Updates to the source protection plan

The update to the source protection plan includes a combination of revisions, additions, and/or removal of policies. These updates are made to align the plan with changes made to the 2021 Technical Rules under the CWA and/or to address policy implementation challenges. The changes include:

• A new policy applicable within the Village of Belmont Water Supply System that requires a risk management plan where an existing handling and storage of fuel is a significant drinking water threat.
• Eight new policies to manage future oil pipeline threat activities. These policies are non-binding and address future threat activities in the significant threat area in the Elgin Area Primary Water Supply System. they also address future threat activities in significant, moderate, or low threat areas in the Belmont wellhead protection area.
• A new policy which makes administrative revisions to an existing policy about the responsibility of municipalities to maintain source protection signs on municipal roads in collaboration with the Source Protection Authority.
• The removal of a policy that addressed the management of chemical runoff from the de-icing of aircraft, as the Municipality of Central Elgin confirmed that there is no reasonable prospect that the activity ever be engaged in the WHPA-A Please explain WHPA-A given the current and projected land uses.
• Revisions to two policies related to the handling and storage of fuel at the Elgin Area Primary Water Supply intake protection zones concerning significant drinking water threat events to remove references to commercial fertilizer. The policies affect existing and future threats, respectively. The changes resulted in the removal of the associated events-based area, ‘IPZ-3’.
• Revisions to one education & outreach policy to include new threat categories specified under the 2021 Technical Rules.
• Revisions to three prescribed instrument policies applicable to the Belmont wellhead protection area to reflect updated threat categories under the 2021 Technical Rules. These changes reflect the terminology related to significant drinking water threats, namely from road salt, commercial fertilizer, wastewater and sewage systems (including landfilling, liquid industrial waste injection into a well, etc.).
• Minor revisions to a strategic action policy directing the Municipality of Central Elgin to notify the ministry of improperly abandoned wells.
• Minor revisions to a strategic action policy to align with the existing process at Spills Action Centre for responding to incidents that may affect the drinking water treatment system and/or water quality within or near the intake protection zones.
• A new policy regarding the effective date for amended policies.
• Minor revisions to several monitoring policies (which require the reporting on implementation progress on an annual basis from the bodies responsible for implementing policies) to reflect the new coding scheme of policies.
• Revisions to several effective date policies that would apply to drinking water threat activities within the newly mapped source protection vulnerable areas and new threat activities.
• Minor administrative revisions such as updating references to the Technical Rules and Tables of Drinking Water Threats, as appropriate, and ministry names/abbreviations.
• Updated mapping associated with the Belmont Wellhead Protection Area and Elgin Area Primary Water Supply Intake Protection Zones where significant threats apply, as presented in Schedule A and B of the SPP, respectively.

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

The source protection authority completed the updates in accordance with the requirements set out in the CWA, Ontario Regulation 287/07 (General) and the Technical Rules.

The updates take effect upon the posting of this notice on the Environmental Registry.

Other public consultation opportunities

The Grand River Source Protection Authority held consultations while the updates were being developed. Public consultation was held from April 5, 2023 to May 9, 2023. Pursuant to the Clean Water Act, 2006, they invited comments from:

• bodies responsible for implementing plan policies (including provincial government ministries and local municipalities).
• the public and landowners affected by amended plan policies.

First Nations with reserves in the affected area are typically invited to provide comments; however, there are no such First Nations reserves within the Kettle Creek Source Protection Area.

The questions and comments received during consultations sought clarification and further information about the updates with no significant concerns raised. The authority considered and addressed comments received and made appropriate revisions and responses before submitting the proposed updates to the ministry for approval.

We considered comments received by the source protection authority as part of the review process.

Other information

The ministry has concluded that the comments the source protection authority received during consultation on the updates to the assessment report and source protection plan have been adequately considered and addressed, and that the legislative and regulatory requirements under the Clean Water Act, 2006 relating to the updates have been met.

These updates take effect upon this posting of this notice on the Environmental Registry.

The approved updates to the Kettle Creek Source Protection Plan and Kettle Creek Assessment Report are available on the Lake Erie Source Protection Region’s website.