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

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

The Act ensures communities can 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 helps ensure Ontario’s communities are confident in the quality and quantity of their drinking water. Assessment reports and source protection plans are updated as needed.

Amendments to the assessment report and source protection plan

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

The amendments reflect new technical and policy work completed in several municipalities within the Grand River source protection area including:

• County of Grey (Township of Southgate)
• Dufferin County (Townships of Amaranth, East Garafraxa, Grand Valley and Melancthon)
• Wellington County (Townships of Guelph-Eramosa, Erin and Puslinch)
• City of Guelph
• Halton Region (Town of Halton Hills)
• Region of Waterloo (City of Cambridge, City of Kitchener, City of Waterloo, Townships of North Dumfries, Woolwich, Wilmot and Wellesley)
• Perth County
• Oxford County
• City of Hamilton
• County of Brant
• City of Brantford
• Haldimand County

The protection zones around 28 municipal groundwater systems were updated based on new groundwater models that better identify the areas where activities could pose a low, moderate or significant risk to sources of drinking water and incorporate new and changing wells.

Sections of the assessment report and source protection plan were revised for improved clarity, accuracy and to remove duplication of information. They include updated information about:

• the methodology for the revised protection areas
• water budget methodology and results
• risk assessments
• climate change research sections

New policies were developed to provide additional support during plan implementation for:

• the Region of Waterloo pertaining to sanitary sewers, stormwater management, and biosolids management
• the City of Brantford pertaining to stormwater management and fuel storage

Administrative amendments were made to some existing policies including:

• implementation timing
• sewage works
• agricultural activities
• storage of salt and snow
• fuel and pipelines

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 for the Region of Waterloo take effect on October 1, 2020. The rest of the amendments take effect upon posting of this notice on the Environmental Registry.

Other public consultation opportunities:

The Grand River 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 from April 8 to May 21, 2019. Additionally, the authority held three public meetings to discuss the changes posed by this amendment in the City of Waterloo (March 26, 2019), City of Cambridge (March 27, 2019) and Oxford County (April 15, 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 Grand River Assessment Report and Source Protection Plan are available at the link provided in this notice and on the Lake Erie Source Protection Region website.

Other Information:

The Minister decided 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.