The source water protection (SWP) process can be beneficial, said North Huron Reeve Neil Vincent at an SWP open house Jan. 27 in Wingham, although Vincent said he had concerns about the process going too far.
“We went from ignoring it before Walkerton to trying to be too careful now,” said Vincent.
The event to discuss the draft proposed assessment report from the Ausable Bayfield Maitland Valley Source Protection committee was the second of several open houses and meetings planned for the next few months. The report is shown to the public for input before the final version is submitted to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment by June 8, with a source protection plan to be prepared by 2012.
Project manager Cathie Brown said there had been a good response to the report and the first open house Jan. 21 in Bayfield. She added letters had gone out to 1,000 property owners across the watershed, where potential threats had been identified, which she said was a good number based on the 55,000 properties across the watershed.
The assessment report said under the Ontario Clean water Act, there are four main areas where water is vulnerable to contamination: wellhead protections areas, intake protection areas, significant groundwater recharge areas and highly vulnerable aquifers.
The report also listed the 21 threats to drinking water, which include application, storage and management of agricultural source material, commercial fertilizer, pesticide and road salt as well as use of land as livestock grazing or for pasturing land.
According to the report, in the event of a threat identified on a property, owners would be notified and planning policies could range from education to negotiated risk management as well as restrictions on the property or prohibition of certain activities.
Morris-Turnberry councillor and property owner Lynn Hoy said he had several concerns about the process, which he planned to put forward at the Feb. 18 public meeting in Blyth where presentations and delegations will be heard.
Hoy said his property had nine of the possible 21 threats and he was concerned that property owners “not lose the right to farm,” although source protection committee chairperson Larry Brown said there would be “choice and flexibility” for property owners when the process is implemented.
Vincent said he was concerned about the possibility of holding people responsible for material that may have been buried on their land decades ago, such as asphalt that was found buried on a farm near Teviotdale, with the owner first awarded $1.7 million in damages from the province by a court ruling, which was then appealed and overturned.
The deadline for input to the process is March 12. For more information contact the source protection committee at 1-888-286-2610 or check sourcewaterinfo.on.ca