Local source water protection committee submits assessment report to MOE

After months of hard work and public consultation, the Raisin and South Nation conservation authorities have submitted their assessment report on the state of drinking water in the Prescott-Russell and Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry areas to the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MOE) for approval.

Ian Smith, director of the source protection branch of the MOE, confirmed that 38 assessment reports from across Ontario have been submitted for review.

"The assessment report is a document that describes the local watershed and available water supplies, identifies vulnerable area where drinking water sources might face a risk of contamination, assesses threats to drinking water and provides the basis for the development of a source protection plan," Smith explained. "These documents have the ability to impact municipal planning decisions."

He said assessment reports are subject to two periods of public review and comment before being submitted to him for review. He said currently, all assessment reports have been submitted and three have been approved.

The reports that have been approved are for the Kettle Creek, Catfish Creek and Mattagami Region soruce protection areas.

"The balance of the reports should be approved over the next six to 12 months," Smith stated.

Once reports are approved, conservation authorities will be able to start implementing their drinking water source protection plans, which could start as early as this year, depending on when reports are approved.

According to Karen Cooper, communications specialist, the report identifies vulnerable areas where drinking water sources might face risk of contamination and assesses possible threats to drinking water in vulnerable areas.

She noted the report identified more than 1,500 potential threats to the drinking water in the local region.

"This is a process that has been going on for quite some time now," Cooper told The Review. "We examined more than 600 sites in the Raisin and South Nation conservation areas and determined what activities are taking place on nearby land that could potentially affect the quality of the drinking water."

Some examples of potential threats, Cooper outlined, include the application of agricultural source material (manure) to land; the storage of manure; the application of commercial fertilizer to land; the application of pesticide to land; to application or handling/storage of road salt; handling/storage of fuel and the use of land as livestock grazing or pasturing land, to name only a few.

"These are all fairly normal activities that take place on land in a rural setting," Cooper said. "However, these are also activities that could be a threat to drinking water. These are activities we need to monitor and take stock of."

Cooper explained that the Clean Water Act helps protect drinking water at the source, as part of an overall commitment from the province to safeguard human health and the environment: "A key focus of this legislation is the preparation of locally developed, science-based assessment reports and source protection plans. Our goal is to work with municipalities, citizens, farmers, you name it, to come up with an action plan to manage and minimize threats to drinking water.

"None of this means anything if we don't come up with an action plan to address what it outlined in the report."

The South Nation Source Protection Area accounts for nearly 4,900 square kilometres and comprises the jurisdiction of the South Nation Conservation, plus the Town of Prescott, an additional watershed-based area to the northeast. The total population of the area is approximately 120,000 and includes all or portions of the City of Ottawa, Clarence-Rockland, The Nation, Champlain, East Hawkesbury, Hawkesbury, Alfred-Plantagenet, Casselman, Russell, North Dundas, North Glengarry, North Stormont, South Dundas and South Stormont.

Nineteen municipal drinking water sources, including surface water intakes and groundwater wells, were studied for water quantity and quality threats assessment.

Scientific studies revealed that no water quantity threats exist in the area. Some activities that are or would be significant drinking water quality threats were identified.

It should be noted that most local municipalities get their water from the Ottawa River. The Nation relies on groundwater for its water, while Casselman is the only municipality that gets its water from the South Nation River.

About 55 per cent of the region relies on private wells for drinking water.

Locally, the report stated that Limoges has one significant threat; Wendover has 87 significant threats; Hawkesbury has 23 significant threats and Casselman has 521 significant threats. Lefaivre and Clarence-Rockland have no significant threats.

One of the reasons threats to drinking water in Casselman are so high, the report explained, is because currently, there are nine wastewater lagoons discharging upstream. These lagoon discharges have been flagged as having a potential impact of the town's drinking water.

Unfortunately, Cooper said, people who rely on private wells for drinking water aren't included in this process. She said home and property owners are responsible for ensuring the water from their wells is safe to drink.

"I don't think a lot of people realize how important it is to have their wells tested and to maintain them properly," Cooper commented. "I think people move out to the country and just assume the water is good because it's coming from a well. That is most definitely not the case and we encourage homeowners to get their wells tested regularly."