Fact Sheet

April 3, 2007

PROPOSED LEGISLATION PROVIDES STRONGER PROTECTION FOR GREAT LAKES AND ONTARIO’S WATER RESOURCES

The McGuinty government has introduced draft legislation that would strengthen the management, protection and conservation of the Great Lakes and all Ontario’s water resources. The legislation would implement the historic Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement, signed by Ontario, Quebec and the eight Great Lakes U.S. states on December 13, 2005. It would also enable the province to start charging commercial and industrial users for the water they take and use. Our changing climate has heightened the need for more precautionary and adaptive measures.
The proposed Safeguarding and Sustaining Ontario’s Water Act, 2007 which would amend the Ontario Water Resources Act is available on the Environmental Registry for public comment at
www.ontario.ca/environmentalregistry until May 3, 2007.

The proposed amendments to the Ontario Water Resources Act would:

• Elevate Ontario’s ban on diversions out of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin (known as inter-basin diversions) from a regulation to be part of the act. This ban on diversions would also apply to the Nelson and Hudson Bay Basins.

• Ontario already prohibits the diversion of water out of its three major water basins, with rare exceptions, such as water in containers of 20 litres or less, and historical diversions.
• The proposed amendments to the act would elevate the inter-basin diversion ban from a regulation to a law to emphasize the importance of the prohibition both for Ontarians and for the other Great Lakes jurisdictions.

• Introduce a ban on new and increased diversions of water from one Great Lakes watershed to another, with strictly regulated exceptions (known as intra-basin diversions).

• The proposed amendments to the act would prohibit the diversion of water for new or increased intra-basin transfers of 379,000 litres per day or greater from one Great Lake watershed to another Great Lake watershed, subject to strictly regulated exceptions.
• An Exception Standard sets out the stringent criteria that must be met by applicants before these proposals will be approved.
• Stricter rules would be imposed for larger proposals, such as requiring water be returned to the source Great Lake watershed after use, and requiring regional review by the ten Great Lakes jurisdictions.

 

• Permit Quebec and the eight Great Lakes states to appeal to the Environmental Review Tribunal or seek judicial review of Ontario decisions on water withdrawals and diversions subject to the Agreement.  This section would not come into force until the other Great Lakes jurisdictions provide Ontario with the right to bring an application for judicial review in their courts.

• Create authority to pass regulations to further support the implementation of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement, such as regulations that:

• Require measures to promote water conservation and water use efficiency.
• Introduce an environmental decision-making standard for the review of proposed water withdrawals and require prior notice and comment by other Great Lakes jurisdictions for large consumptive water uses.

• Prescribe additional criteria to respond to periodic assessments of cumulative impacts, including criteria relating to climate change or other significant threats to the Great Lakes Basin.

 

• Enable Ontario for the first time to charge for water taken or used for industrial or commercial purposes. 

• Water conservation charges are currently used in Canada and other parts of the world to fund water management activities, encourage conservation, and discourage waste.
• Consultation with commercial and industrial water users would lay the foundation for a regulation that would set these charges, beginning with highly consumptive users.

• Enable Ontario to require water takings that began on or before March 29, 1961 to obtain a Permit To Take Water.
• Water takings that started before March 29, 1961, currently do not require a permit. The proposed amendments to the act would enable a regulation requiring defined historical takings to obtain a permit. This authority would be phased in and subject to full consultation.

 

• Require a Permit To Take Water for any water taking over 50,000 litres per day except:
• Watering of livestock if the water taking is less than 379,000 litres per day.
• Water taking for domestic purposes, other than by a municipality or by a company or public utility, if the taking is less than 379,000 litres per day.

• Clarify and update the types of conditions that can be imposed through Permits To Take Water. For example:

• Clarify the authority of the province to impose conditions in a permit such as requiring water conservation and water use efficiency measures.

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Contact information for media:
For information on the Great Lakes agreement: Rob Messervey Ministry of Natural Resources 705-755-1278 For information on water conservation charges: John Steele Ministry of the Environment 416-314-6666
Contact information for the general public: 416-325-4000 or 1-800-565-4923/ www.ene.gov.on.ca

 

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