Drinking Water Source Protection

Sunday August 1, 2010

Source Water Protection

Timelines

May 2000 – Walkerton tragedy

Early 2002 – Walkerton Inquiry Reports released

2002 – Ontario passes two laws: The Safe Drinking Water Act and the Sustainable Water and Sewage Systems Act

November 2002 – Appointment of Advisory Committee on Watershed-Based Source Protection

November 2003 – Two Advisory Committees named: Technical Experts Committee and Implementation Committee

January 2004 – Provincial White Paper on Source Water Protection

June 2004 – Draft Drinking Water Source Protection Act released for public comment

December 2004 – Technical Experts Committee and Implementation Committee Reports submitted

December 2005 – Clean Water Act (CWA) introduced with first reading

November 2006 – CWA passed

July 2007 – First CWA regulations passed

August 2007 – Minister of Environment appoints the 19 Source Protection Committee Chairs

November 2007 – Source Protection Committees appointed across the province

December 17, 2007 – First South Georgian Bay Lake Simcoe Source Protection Committee meeting

November 2008 – Terms of Reference describing who does what completed – public consultation required

June 29, 2009 – Terms of Reference Approved (triggering deadline for the assessment report)

June 2010 – Assessment Report due (assessment of risks to drinking water, not how to address) – public consultation on report required

2010 – Fall 2012 – SWP plans due – development of risk reduction strategies (mitigate existing problems) and land use planning policies (prevent new risks) – requires public consultation

2013 ++ – SWP plans to be implemented - primarily through municipal official plans, but province and others also subject to the plans