Source water protection planning activities reach the final stages

Thursday, October 2, 2014

by SUSAN MANN

This year, more than six years after the Ontario source water protection planning process began, the province’s environment ministry has begun approving some plans, but government funding is dwindling and that’s affecting the committees’ work, says an agricultural industry spokesman.

“Our meeting schedules now are a lot less,” says Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Mark Wales, who sits on the Lake Erie source water protection committee. That committee is responsible for four plans covering the Kettle Creek, Catfish Creek, Grand River and Long Point Region watersheds. “Where we used to meet every single month, we now meet every two or three or four months. That’s a budget thing. There isn’t the money for everybody to meet every month.”

So far, the Ontario Environment and Climate Change Ministry has only approved eight of a total of 22 regional plans that are being prepared but Kate Jordan, environment ministry spokesperson, says by email that work is proceeding at the pace expected. “We anticipate that by the end of the calendar year, half of all plans will have been approved,” she writes.

The process is slow going because the environment ministry reviews each plan to ensure it complies with the requirements of the Clean Water Act, she explains. Some plans are more complex “and as a result reviewing the plans and policies takes additional time.”

Some plans that have been filed have not been approved but rather sent back with comments to the local committees to address. Jordan did not say how many plans have been sent back for revision.

The planning process began in 2006 with the passage of the Act. Committees to tackle the province’s 38 source water protection areas began to be established in 2007, says Jordan.

The areas have been grouped into 10 source water protection regions and nine stand-alone source water protection areas. Each has its own source water protection committee made up of various stakeholders including farmers. The committees have developed the local plans and policies to address specific activities that could impact drinking water sources.

Most committees developed one plan for their region or area, but others, such as the Lake Erie source protection committee, had several to do.

When the Act was first passed there was concern in the agricultural community that the plans could have an impact on farming, but Wales says that concern has mostly not been realized.

The challenge for farmers depends on the kind of operation they have and its location in relation to a municipal surface water intake zone or a municipal well, he explains. Protection zones have been established around each water intake type.

Manure, fertilizer, pesticide and fuel storage are all activities on farms that “present some level of risk,” he says. “If you’re within 100 feet of a municipal well and you are storing any of those things, obviously there’s quite a high potential of risk. But if you’re a mile away, the risk is pretty minimal.”

Wales says it’s all about reducing the risk. Farmers doing things that are highly risky to municipal water sources could have top-notch storage systems and that reduces the risk.

Farmers “may already be doing enough to actually reduce the risk” to municipal drinking water sources, he adds.

In addition, Wales says throughout the process they put to bed the rumour the Clean Water Act was just a pretense to control private wells on farms. “That’s not the case.

Nevertheless, Wales says the funding for landowners to do early action has run out. More funding is needed, he adds, but he couldn’t say how much. “I’d be pulling a number out of the air. It varies by watershed.”

The province had earmarked $24.5 million to help landowners make adjustments to reduce municipal drinking water threats. Jordan says the money was spent on more than 3,000 projects that ranged from septic system upgrades to well decommissioning and changing the way fuel is stored.

Jordan says so far the Ontario government has pumped more than $240 million into the source water protection planning process. She did not respond to a Better Farming question on how the amount spent to date measured up against provincial spending targets for the project.

The money has been used for technical studies, supporting local plan development and helping landowners take early actions to protect water sources.

In addition, the government is providing up to $13.5 million to 188 small, rural municipalities to help offset some of the startup costs, such as hiring risk mitigation officials, as they prepare to implement the plans, she notes.

Wales says farmers have been consulted throughout the process.

“Every step of the way we are mandated by the Act to have regular public meetings,” he notes. BF