Our water resources are vital to all aspects of our lives, including our health. It is important that we ensure there is a clean and abundant source of drinking water – for now and in the future. Ontario’s Clean Water Act, 2006 provides for a community initiative where municipalities, residents, business owners, provincial agencies, conservation authorities and others work together to protect existing and future drinking water sources.

Under the Clean Water Act, Conservation Halton and the Hamilton Conservation Authority together form the Halton-Hamilton Source Protection Region. They support a local multi-stakeholder, decision-making Source Protection Committee. Explore our website to learn more about the underlying science and the policies that protect municipal drinking water sources of Lake Ontario and groundwater aquifers, which serve 95% of the residents in the Halton-Hamilton watersheds.

Have you seen these road signs? They are installed by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and the City of Hamilton to mark the location of drinking water vulnerable areas and the need to protect drinking water sources. Spills along roads can contaminate our sources of drinking water. If a spill occurs in a vulnerable area, emergency responders will be reminded to inform the Spills Action Centre (opens external website).