Drinking Water Source Protection

Source water is untreated water from lakes, streams, and aquifers that is used to supply municipal drinking water systems. Protecting source water simply means to protect this water from overuse or contamination due to pathogens or chemicals. This will ensure that there is enough safe water for all designated uses – for now and in the future.

The Ontario government passed the Clean Water Act in 2006 to protect these sources of municipal drinking water supplies throughout Ontario. Under the Act, 19 source protection regions were designated in Ontario.

Protecting Your Drinking Water

NVCA, along with the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority and Severn Sound Environmental Association make up the South Georgian Bay Lake Simcoe Source Protection Region. This region spans over 10,000 km2, from the Oak Ridges Moraine in the south to the Canadian Shield in the north. It contains 52 municipalities, three First Nations communities, 291 municipal supply wells, and 16 municipal surface water intakes.

The South Georgian Bay Lake Simcoe Source Protection Plan received approval from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change and took affect on July 1, 2015. It lists action items that address contamination threats to source water. These risks relate to activities such as:

• waste management
• sewage and stormwater
• agriculture
• road salt application and storage
• snow storage
• chemicals, organic solvents and fuel handling and storage
• water taking
• pesticides, commercial fertilizer and manure application