What is a Source Protection Plan?
A source protection plan is a series of policies developed in consultation with the local community to protect drinking water sources – primarily municipal drinking water sources. Policies range from encouraging best management practices by way of a public education program, to requirements for implementing best management practices (e.g. risk management plans, zoning by-laws etc.). In specific cases particular activities may be prohibited.
Click here to view the Proposed Source Protection Plan
Click here to view Schedules of the Proposed Source Protection Plan
Click here to view Appendices of the Proposed Source Protection Plan
What are the objectives of the Source Protection Plan?
According to the Clean Water Act, the objectives of the Source Protection Plan are:
- To protect existing and future drinking water sources in the source protection area.
- To ensure that, for every area identified in the assessment report as an area where an activity is or would be a significant drinking water threat,
- The activity never becomes a significant drinking water threat, or
- If the activity is occurring when the source protection plan takes effect, the activity ceases to be a significant drinking water threat.
What is the Explanatory Document?
The Explanatory Document accompanies the Source Protection Plan and describes the policy development process and the rationale that influenced the policies. It should be read in conjunction with the Source Protection Plan and is not a stand-alone report.
Click here to view the Explanatory Document
Click here to view Appendix A of the Explanatory Document
Where will policies apply?
Source Protection Plans must contain policies to address the significant drinking water threats that are identified in the Assessment Report. (See Appendix A of the Source Protection Plan). In the Niagara Peninsula Source Protection Area, activities that are considered significant drinking water threats only occur in the vulnerable areas around municipal water treatment plant intakes. These vulnerable areas are known as Intake Protection Zones (IPZs). The Assessment Report provides details on how these IPZs were mapped.
The Source Protection Plan identifies the IPZ where each policy applies. The IPZs where significant threats are possible are:
- DeCew Falls Main, Highway 406 and Alternate Intake IPZ-1s,
- Port Colborne IPZ-1,
- Port Colborne IPZ-2 and
- Niagara Falls IPZ-1.
Since the Source Protection Plan policies only apply within these IPZs, and they only cover a very small portion of the Niagara Peninsula Source Protection Area, the vast majority of property owners in Niagara will not be subject to the policies in the Source Protection Plan.
How is the public being consulted?
Anyone involved in an activity that poses a threat to drinking water, or may be affected by the source protection plan (e.g. an implementer of a policy) has already been contacted directly during the ‘pre-consultation’ phase which was completed in 2011 and early 2012. The pre-consultation phase included stakeholder meetings, presentations to affected municipal councils and correspondence with government agencies.
The Source Protection Plan must also go through two rounds of public consultation before being submitted to the MOE by August 2012.
First Public Consultation Period (for 35-days) on the Draft Proposed Source Protection Plan
The first round of public consultation extended from March 2 to April 10, 2012, and included four open house public meetings in Niagara Falls, Thorold, Port Colborne, and Grimsby. Notices of the public consultation were published in the local daily newspapers and sent to:
- All municipalities in the Source Protection Area;
- All agencies and bodies who will be required to implement one of more Source Protection Plan Policies;
- Persons/landowners who may be engaging in significant threat activities where the policies apply.
- Other agencies such as the Niagara Escarpment Commission, local Chambers of Commerce, and committees of adjacent Source Protection Areas.
Second Public Consultation Period (30-days) on the Proposed Source Protection Plan
The Source Protection Committee (SPC) reviewed and considered all comments that were received from stakeholders and the public during the first public consultation period, and then made changes to the plan as it felt appropriate. The main changes to the plan included:
- Improving policy wording to better identify the significant threat that is being addressed by that policy.
- Improving policy wording to better clarify whether the policy is addressing existing or future significant threats, or both.
- Changing the implementing body from Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE) for policies PC-24 and NF-6 concerning the application, storage and handling of non-agricultural source material (NASM), since these policies apply to IPZs that are located in urban areas.
- Deleting the land use planning policy concerning airports in the Port Colborne IPZ-1 and replacing it with a policy under Part IV of the Clean Water Act.
- Adding Transport Canada as an implementing body in policy PC-14
- Adding policies DC-8, PC-25, and NF-7 that recommend road signs be considered to inform motorists when they are entering certain IPZs.
- Updating some wording in the text of the SPP to improve clarity.
The second round of public consultation extends from Friday May 18, 2012 to Monday June 18, 2012. The public is invited to read the Proposed Source Protection Plan and accompanying Explanatory Document and provide comment on the proposed SPP by June 18, 2012. Notices will be posted in local daily papers and sent out to all municipalities as well as those implementing bodies who submitted comments on the Draft Proposed SPP during the first public consultation.
Where can I view a printed copy of the Source Protection Plan?
Printed copies of the Proposed Source Protection Plan and Explanatory Document are available for review by the public at the corporate offices of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA), 250 Thorold Rd West, 3rd Floor, Welland, Ontario, between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm on normal business days during the public consultation period.
How do I submit comments on the plan?
Comments on the Proposed Source Protection Plan are welcome and can be submitted by email to bwright@npca.ca or in hard copy to: bwright@npca.ca or in hard copy to:
Niagara Peninsula Source Protection Committee
c/o Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority
Attention: Brian Wright, Watershed Technical Services Manager
250 Thorold Road West, 3rd Floor, Welland, Ontario, L3C 3W2
Tel: 905-788-3135 Fax: 905-788-1121
Email: bwright@npca.ca
Click here to download a Comment Form
What happens to my comments on the Proposed Source Protection Plan?
Comments that are received during this second round of public consultation (which extends from May 18 to June 18, 2012) will be forwarded along with the Proposed Source Protection Plan and Explanatory Document to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE). No changes may be made to the Proposed SPP at this time.
The Proposed Source Protection Plan, Explanatory Document, and comments received during the second round of public consultation must be submitted to the MOE by August 2012.
