People’s social, economic, cultural, and psychological well-being is influenced by the physical environment in which they live, work, and play. Protecting water at the source ensures the health of humans, ecosystems, and economics. It is important to protect current and future sources of drinking water from potential contamination and depletion.
What is Source Protection?
Source protection is simply protecting water resources such as lakes, rivers, and groundwater, from contamination or overuse. Water is critical to all aspects of our lives. Protecting the sources of water is important to ensure that there is enough safe water for all our uses — now and in the future.
As water flows across the varied landscapes and communities, it is influenced by both natural and human activities within the particular area it travels. This area is called a watershed. The best way to protect source water is on a watershed basis. Conservation Authorities are the only watershed management agencies in Ontario that are organized on a watershed basis. The role of conservation authorities in protecting sources of water is to coordinate the development of the source water protection plans and provide technical expertise and advice.
Protecting the sources of our drinking water is a key government initiative to protect public health. This follows up on the twenty-two recommendations for watershed-based source water protection made by the Walkerton Inquiry in 2004.
Source Protection in Halton and Hamilton Watersheds
Source protection protects the health of its citizens and their communities. Source protection staff are committed to sharing information with municipalities and stakeholders promptly and effectively. Municipalities and stakeholders will be included and consulted throughout the project. Communication will occur through the SWP website, newsletters, media releases, community events and public presentations.
Source protection staff have been making presentations to municipalities and stakeholder groups on an ongoing basis. If your group is interested in hearing a presentation by one of our source protection staff, please contact:
sourceprotection@hrca.on.ca.
