Approval to further protect sources of drinking water in the Quinte Source Protection Area

The Clean Water Act, 2006 protects existing and future sources of drinking water.

The Act ensures communities are able to protect their drinking water sources through prevention - by developing collaborative, locally driven, watershed-based drinking water source protection plans founded on science. Protecting local drinking water sources is an important first step in ensuring Ontario’s communities are confident in the quality and quantity of their drinking water. Assessment reports and source protection plans are updated from time to time as needed.

Amendments to the assessment report and source protection plan

The Quinte Source Protection Authority prepared the amendments to help further protect sources of drinking water.

The amendment includes:

• a revised water quality protection area around the new and existing wells of the Madoc drinking water system
• expanded and revised water quality protection areas around the existing intakes of the Belleville and Picton drinking water systems
• updated source protection plan mapping

In the source protection plan, no changes to the policies were made, which means the existing policies will apply to the revised protection areas.

The source protection authority completed the amendments in accordance with the legislative and regulatory requirements set out in the Clean Water Act and Ontario Regulation 287/07 (General).

The amendments take effect upon posting on the Environmental Registry.

Other Public Consultation Opportunities:

The Quinte Source Protection Authority held consultations while the amendments were being developed. They invited comments from:

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

The source protection authority also held public consultation on the proposed amendments for the Belleville and Picton systems from November 22 to December 23, 2016, and for the Madoc system, from June 6 to July 11, 2019.

The source protection authority considered comments and made appropriate revisions. We considered comments received as part of the review process.

The approved amendments to the Quinte Source Protection Plan and Assessment Report are available via the link provided in this notice and on the Quinte Source Protection Area website.

Other Information:

The Minister has concluded that the legislative requirements under the Clean Water Act have been met and that comments the source protection authority received during consultation on the assessment report and source protection plan amendments, have been adequately considered and addressed.