Drinking Water Source Protection – 5 Year Timelines

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Year 1 Laying the Foundation:

• Province passes Clean Water Act legislation and regulations, along with guidance materials and director’s rules.

• Province establishes Source Protection Authorities, which are generally the same as Conservation Authorities. The geographic area of each Source Protection Authority covers a watershed. These watershed areas are grouped to form 11 Source Protection Regions and 8 stand-alone Source Protection Areas.

• Each Source Protection Region/Area establishes a Source Protection Committee by forwarding their Source Protection Committee Chair nominations to the Province for selection and by recruiting other Source Protection Committee members by sector.

• Each Source Protection Committee drives the development of a Terms of Reference. The Terms of Reference lays out who will be responsible for what parts of the Source Protection Plan and how the work will be conducted.

Year 1-2 Assessment of risks:

• The Source Protection Committee, including municipalities, Conservation Authorities and other key stakeholders, identifies and assesses threats to local drinking water sources and how to address them.

• Source Protection Committee prepares Assessment Report and consults with public for feedback.

• The Province provides final approval.

Year 3-5 Source protection planning:

• Source Protection Committee prepares Source Protection Plan, including policies to address threats to drinking water. Broad consultation with the public on the Source Protection Plan provides feedback to the Source Protection Committee.

Year 5+ implementation:

• Municipalities implement the Source Protection Plan.

• Municipalities inspect and enforce local measures against drinking water threats.

• Source Protection Committee monitors Source Protection Plan and provides the Province with annual reports.

• Source Protection Committee reviews and comments on annual report.