The Rural Voice, 2006-04, Page 49News in Agriculture
Source Water Act brings concerns for farm groups
The topic of the provincial
government's proposed Source Water
Protection Act brought a flood of
concerns when farm groups met their
senior politicians, March 4.
Several groups raised fears about
he new act in their briefs to Carol
vlitchell, MPP for Huron -Bruce and
'aul Steckle, MP for Huron Bruce.
Simon Logtenberg, president of the
Huron County Pork Producers said
:he government needs to make
financing available to help farmers
implement the program. After a
presentation to the Huron Pork
Producers from Sam Bradshaw, an
environmental advisor to Ontario
Pork, pork producers were very
concerned about the ramifications of
the act, Logtenberg said.
Ken Scott, chair of the Huron
County Federation of Agriculture's
property committee was concerned
that farmers have adequate represen-
tation on committees formed to
implement source water protection.
Les Falconer of the Huron County
Beef Producers Association worried
about who determines what is the
catchment area for a municipal well.
John Maaskant, representing the
Ontario Farm Environmental
Coalition (OFEC) said his group has
explotssed its concerns with' the
legislation. They also have concerns
about the implementation of bill.
Bill Dowson, mayor of the
Municipality of Bluewater, said as a
councillor the legislation was starting
to scare him. More and more work
and expense are being downloaded
onto the municipalities, he said.
"Please don't download enforcement
(of the Source Water Protection Act)
onto the municipalities," he pleaded
with Mitchell.
But Mitchell said it will be three
years before the act is in place and
the government has deliberately
given lots of time for consultation
and research.
The benefit of bringing source
water protection down to a local level
is to allow more focus on what are
environmentally fragile areas and
then provide the funding needed,
Mitchell said.
The long lead time would allow for
enough consultation that the same
problems encountered with the
nutrient management act won't be
repeated, Mitchell said.
Paul Mistele, vice-president of the
Ontario Federation of Agriculture
agreed that the farming community
doesn't want to "go back down the
road of nutrient management".
OFEC has put 72 recommendations
forward to the government, he said.
Maaskant worried about people
getting too carried away with their
fears. "This is an issue that can very
easily be blown out of proportion by
our fears," he said. He noted that the
act covers only municipal wells, even
though some of the environmental
officials would have liked to see all
wells covered.0
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APRIL 2006 45