Approved Amendments to the South Georgian Bay Lake Simcoe 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 municipal drinking water sources continue to be protected in the South Georgian Bay Lake Simcoe Source Protection Region, the Minister has approved amendments to the South Georgian Bay Lake Simcoe Source Protection Plan and the Assessment Report for the Lakes Simcoe and Couchiching/Black River Source Protection Area. These amendments were recommended by the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority.

Protecting Ontario’s water resources is a key commitment in our Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan.

Amendments to the assessment report and source protection plan

The Lake Simcoe Region Source Protection Authority prepared these amendments to help further protect sources of drinking water.

The amendments for York Region include:

• updated protection zones for the Aurora wellfield due to an updated groundwater model and the addition of one (1) new well (PW7).
• removal of one decommissioned well (Well 14) from the Newmarket wellfield.
• 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 updated protection area.

The source protection authority completed the amendments in accordance with the legislative and regulatory requirements set out in the Clean Water Act, 2006 and Ontario Regulation 287/07(General).

These amendments take effect immediately, the day this decision notice is posted to the Environmental Registry.

Other public consultation opportunities:

The Lake Simcoe Region 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 January 16 to February 20, 2020.

The source protection authority considered comments and made appropriate revisions before submitting the proposed amendments to the ministry. We considered comments received during consultation as part of the review process in accordance with section 30 of the Clean Water Act, 2006.

The approved amendments to the South Georgian Bay Lake Simcoe Source Protection Plan and the Assessment Report for the Lakes Simcoe and Couchiching/Black River Source Protection Area are available at the link provided in this notice and on the South Georgian Bay Lake Simcoe Source Protection Region website.

Other information:

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