The Science Behind Drinking Water Source Protection

The Clean Water Act, 2006 helps protect drinking water at the source, as part of an overall commitment to safeguard human health and the environment. A key focus of the legislation is the preparation of locally developed, science-based assessment reports and source protection plans.

The assessment reports prepared by local Source Protection Committees identify and assess threats to drinking water sources listed in the committee’s terms of reference. The information they contain is used to prepare the source protection plans. These plans will set out what actions are required to address threats to drinking water sources.

Find out more about your local Drinking Water Source Protection Region or Area.

Regulation 287/07 and following Director's Technical Rules govern the content of the assessment report. These were amended based on input from drinking water source protection partners over the last six months.  To see what has changed since the Dec 2008 version, please see the documents marked with revisions.

Director’s Technical Rules	Type of file
Technical Rules for the preparation of assessment reports November 2009
Technical Rules for the preparation of assessment report November 2009 (marked with revisions to December 2008 version)
Tables of Drinking Water Threats November 2009
Tables of Drinking Water Threats November 2009 (marked with revisions to December 2008 version)
Mapping Symbology for the Clean Water Act November 2009 (Ministry of Natural Resources publication)

Previous Versions of the Director’s Technical Rules	Type of file
Technical Rules for the preparation of assessment reports December 2008
Technical Rules for the preparation of assessment reports November 2008
Tables of Drinking Water Threats December 2008
Mapping Symbology for the Clean Water Act November 2008

Technical Bulletins

The Director’s Technical Rules govern the content of the assessment reports.  The Technical Bulletins elaborate and provide clarification and guidance on certain aspects of the Director’s Technical Rules.

• Technical Bulletin: Delineation of Significant Groundwater Recharge Areas
• Technical Bulletin: Addressing Transportation Threats
• Technical Bulletin: Climate Change and the Director’s Technical Rules
• Technical Bulletin: Delineation of Intake Protection Zone 3 Using the Event Based Approach (EBA)
• Technical Bulletin: Surface Water Road Map
• Technical Bulletin: Groundwater Road Map
• Technical Bulletin: Water Budget and Water Quantity Risk Assessment, Tier 2 Subwatershed Stress Assessment, Groundwater Drought Scenarios