Water page banner

Clean Water Act

The Clean Water Act ensures that communities can identify potential risks to their drinking water supplies, and take actions to reduce these risks.  It brings members of the public together with:

  • municipalities
  • conservation authorities
  • industry and business
  • community groups
  • farmers and landowners

to meet common goals to keep Ontario’s drinking water safe.

Video: See what happens when you pour paint or other contaminants down your drain.  

Learn more about the act
Fact sheets
News Release and Backgrounder
Legislation and regulations

Did you know? Ontario borders on four of the five Great Lakes and we have more than a quarter of a million lakes, rivers and streams and rich groundwater resources – not to mention a multitude of plants and animals that necessarily thrive in such lush surroundings.

The Ontario Drinking Water Stewardship Program

Established under the Clean Water Act, the intent of the Ontario Drinking Water Stewardship Program is to provide financial assistance for measures that help protect Ontario’s drinking water sources.

The Science Behind Drinking Water Source Protection

The Clean Water Act requires local multi-stakeholder source protection committees to prepare science based assessment reports for designated watershed areas.

These reports 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 science-based plans will tell what actions are required to address threats to drinking water sources.

Learn more about the

Technical rules for preparing the assessments reports


Drinking Water Ontario