News Release

For immediate release
June 1, 2007

PROVINCE’S WATER FURTHER PROTECTED
New Law Bans Water Diversions, Implements Conservation Charges To Strengthen Protection Of Great Lakes And Water Resources Province-wide

TORONTO — Ontario’s water resources are now better protected with the passage of the Safeguarding and Sustaining Ontario’s Water Act, Environment Minister Laurel Broten and Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay announced today.

The new legislation enshrines in law an historic agreement that bans diversions from the Great Lakes Basin. The legislation will also permit commercial and industrial users to be charged for the water they use.
 
“Ontario has gone beyond the Great Lakes agreement and is at the forefront of protection of Great Lakes Basin waters because we listened to what Ontarians wanted,” said Ramsay. “This legislation strengthens the ban on water diversions, promotes water conservation, reinforces basin-wide environmental standards, and improves science-based decision-making.”

“For the first time in this province, large commercial users will be charged for the water they use,” said Broten. “We are seeing to it that businesses that benefit from our precious water resources contribute their fair share toward the costs of managing them.”

The Safeguarding and Sustaining Ontario’s Water Act implements the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement, signed by Ontario, Quebec and the eight Great Lake U.S. states in December 2005. The province’s existing ban on diversions of water out of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River, Nelson and Hudson Bay basins is now part of the act rather than just being in regulation. The act also prohibits new or increased diversions of water from one Great Lake watershed to another, subject to strictly regulated exceptions.

The act goes beyond the agreement by giving the province the ability to pass more restrictive regulations requiring that water transfers smaller than those stipulated in the agreement be returned to the Great Lakes watershed from which they were taken. Other new provisions would let the province require water conservation plans for water transfers and takings, and enhance consideration of climate change and cumulative impacts.

The province will, following the development of a regulation, start to charge commercial and industrial users for the water they take and use. Revenue will go toward the province’s costs of managing water quantity.

 “Our government has put in place some of the most rigorous water protection measures in North America for the Great Lakes Basin water and our other water resources,” said Broten. “Our efforts will keep these vital resources protected and plentiful and our people healthy and prosperous today and for the future.
Today’s announcement is just one way the McGuinty government is working to ensure a healthy natural environment in Ontario. Other examples include: 

• Passing the Clean Water Act to ensure communities identify potential risks to local water sources and take action to reduce or eliminate risks.
• Passing the Endangered Species Act to strengthen protection of species at risk in Ontario
• Launching Ontario’s first biodiversity strategy to protect the province’s plants and wildlife and the habitats that support them

Renewing the commitment to work co-operatively with the federal government to improve and protect the health of the Great Lakes Basin ecosystem.

- 30 -

Backgrounder: New Legislation Provides Stronger Protection For Great Lakes And Ontario’s Water Resources

 

Contact information for media:  For information on water conservation charges: Anne O’Hagan Minister Broten’s Office 416-325-5809 For information on the Great Lakes agreement: Anne-Marie Flanagan Minister Ramsay’s Office 416-327-0654

John Steele Ministry of the Environment 416-314-6666   Jolanta Kowalski Ministry of Natural Resources 416-314-2106

 

Back to News Releases