Source Water Protection Plan Now in Effect

Apr 1, 2015

For Immediate Release                    
Wednesday, April 1, 2015

On September 30, 2014 the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change announced that the City of Greater Sudbury’s Drinking Water Source Protection Plan had been approved. Implementation of this Plan will officially come into effect April 1, 2015.

A local Source Protection Committee, a group of appointed multi-stakeholder representatives from the public, industry, the municipality, the local Conservation Authority and concerned citizen groups were responsible for the creation of the Terms of Reference, the Assessment Report and the Source Protection Plan.

The Source Protection Plan contains policies that address potential drinking water threat activities occurring in sensitive areas such as Wellhead Protection Areas (WHPA), Intake Protection Zones (IPZ), and Issue Contributing Areas (ICA), as identified in the Greater Sudbury Assessment Report.

The Greater Sudbury Source Protection Plan is designed to protect existing and future sources of municipal drinking water by managing threat activities.

As of April 1, 2015 the policies within this plan must be implemented. It details policies for activities such as agriculture; the use and storage of chemicals, salt and snow storage, sewage storage and disposal, solid waste and water quantity.  The policies in the Plan are to be administered and enforced by the City.

“It is our responsibility to protect our sources of municipal drinking water,” said Nick Benkovich, City of Greater Sudbury Director of Water/Wastewater Services.

“We will continue to ensure safe drinking water will remain a protected resource for future generations.”

Section 59 of the Clean Water Act, 2006 is now applicable law in the Ontario Building Code, which requires an approval from the Risk Management Office prior to a building permit being issued if proposed construction is in a vulnerable area.  The City will work closely with its residents to ensure those changes are adhered to.

The plan will affect City processes such as planning approvals and the building code permit process. The City will work closely with its residents to ensure those changes are adhered to.

“We are committed,as always, to helping the residents and businesses understand how this will affect their specific permit needs” Guido Mazza, Chief Building Official, Director of Building Services said.

Planning projects requiring a permit or other Planning Act processes such  as re-zoning and Site Plan Control can review mapping  provided  on the City’s web site. These maps will help determine if a project falls within the regulated area. Once determined, it’s important to contact the Risk Management Office for details of how a project may be affected.

Only approximately 10 per cent of the property fabric of  the City of Greater Sudbury are affected by this new regulatory regime.

More information on Source Water Protection Plans and the Clean Water Act can be found on the Ministry’s website at www.ene.gov.on.ca.

To view the Greater Sudbury’s Source Water Protection Plan, please visit

www.greatersudbury.ca/water

Source water protection plan

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