The Clean Water Act: You Know How Your Drinking Water Stays Clean?
Water is critical to all aspects of our lives, and it is important that we ensure there is a safe and reliable source for all our uses – now and in the future. The Clean Water Act, 2006 is part of the Province of Ontario’s commitment to ensure clean, safe drinking water for all Ontarians by implementing a multi-barrier approach. Ontario’s Clean Water Act protects sources of municipal drinking water including lakes, rivers, and well water.
The Clean Water Act sets out a framework for source protection planning on a watershed basis. A watershed is an area of land drained by a river and its tributaries into a body of water, such as a lake or river. Under the Act, Source Protection Areas were created based on the watershed boundaries of Ontario’s 36 Conservation Authorities. These authorities, as watershed managers, collaborated with local stakeholders in Source Protection Committees to develop Source Protection Plans. The Upper Thames River, Lower Thames Valley, and St. Clair Region Conservation Authorities partnered to form the Thames-Sydenham Source Protection Region.
What is Part IV of the Clean Water Act?
Some Source Protection Plan policies follow Part IV of the Clean Water Act, which may prohibit certain activities or require Risk Management Plans to manage activities that could contaminate drinking water sources. Part IV also establishes a process to ensure that future development and building plans do not contaminate drinking water sources by enforcing these policies.
The Clean Water Act represents the first step in a series of measures the Government of Ontario has implemented to ensure Ontarians have safe and reliable municipal drinking water. To learn more about how to help keep your drinking water clean, visit the Drinking Water Source Protection website.
By protecting the sources of your drinking water, the Clean Water Act helps ensure that your drinking water remains safe. The origin of your water matters, and by ensuring its protection, we can secure safe drinking water for now and the future.