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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2012-08-23, Page 21THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2012. PAGE 21. A local committee has reached amilestone in its work to protectmunicipal drinking water sources inthe Maitland Valley and Ausable Bayfield source protection areas. The Ausable Bayfield Maitland Valley Drinking Water Source Protection Committee (SPC) has approved proposed source protection plans for submission to the Ontario Minister of the Environment. The plans will add a new barrier of protection to help keep municipal wells safe from contamination. The committee approved the proposed plans on Tuesday, Aug. 14. The Ausable Bayfield and Maitland Valley source protection authorities submitted the plans, along with public comments, to the Province of Ontario on Friday, Aug. 17. The Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE) will review the plans with possible approval by next year. The local committee is made up of representatives of municipalities, agriculture, the public-at-large, theenvironmental sector, industry,commerce and property ownerassociations. The committee has been working for more than five years on source protection planning. The Province of Ontario has approved the committee’s Terms of Reference and Assessment Reports. The committee began work on planning policies in early 2011 and consulted with municipalities and the public as the committee members developed proposed plans. The proposed source protection plans offer policies to manage existing significant threats to drinking water and prohibit new significant drinking water threat activities from being established in the most vulnerable areas near municipal wells. “I am pleased that the committee has been able to create practical policies to reduce the chance of contamination in local municipal drinking water,” said Larry Brown, Chairman of the Source ProtectionCommittee. “The committee alsothanks the members of the public,municipalities and working groups who commented on the policies as they were developed and improved.” Proposed source protection plans say that if a significant drinking water threat exists today, in the most vulnerable areas around municipal wells, in most cases a risk management plan will be required (except in the case of septic systems, which will need to be inspected under the building code). The proposed plans also say, in most cases, that if a significant threat activity does not exist today it cannot be established in the future in those wellhead protection areas. Direct education to property owners will be part of the local threats management approach. People can find the proposed plans online at the local drinking water source protection website at http://www.sourcewaterinfo.on.ca/c ontent/sourceProtectionPlans.phpPeople can also inspect the proposedsource protection plans, duringregular business hours, at the Maitland Valley and Ausable Bayfield source protection authority offices, which are located at 1093 Marietta Street in Wroxeter and at 71108 Morrison Line, east of Exeter. Phone 519-335-3557 or 519-235- 2610 or 1-888-286-2610 for business hours. The committee’s policies can only have ‘must conform to’ legal effect on properties where significant drinking water threats may be present. Drinking water threats are one of 21 land-use activities specified by the Province of Ontario such as the use of storage of sewage through a septic system at a home, farm, or business, storage of heating oil at a house, or storage of gas at a service station. These land uses can only be significant if they take place in the most vulnerable areas near municipal wells, such as the 100- metre radius of that well or the two-year time-of-travel area, and incircumstances (such as largequantities) that make the activity significant. More than 90 per cent of ratepayers, in the Ausable Bayfield Maitland Valley Source Protection Region, do not have significant drinking water threat activities assessed on their properties. The Ausable Bayfield Maitland Valley Source Protection Region includes parts of six counties (Wellington, Perth, Huron, Bruce, Lambton, Middlesex). There are 24 lower-tier municipalities within the region. There are no issues and no significant drinking water threat activities assessed near the region’s two lake intakes (Goderich and the Lake Huron Primary Water Supply System at Port Blake, north of Grand Bend). Therefore, potential significant drinking water threat activities are only present in municipalities with groundwater Water protection plan submitted to province Business Directory Affordable CAR AND TRUCK RENTALS Large & Small Trucks fridge carts - piano dollys- moving blankets Complete Selection of Cars Our rates qualify for insurance replacement Passenger Vans full size or mini GODERICH TOYOTA 344 Huron Rd. 519-524-9381 GODERICH 1-800-338-1134 NEW CONSTRUCTION AGRICULTURAL RENOVATIONS RESIDENTIAL Call 519-527-1538 Tarion Home Warranty Builders ZAHND REAL ESTATE LTD. BROKERAGE P.O. 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