What source water is
"Source water" refers to the lakes, rivers and aquifers from which we get the water we drink and use.
How Ontario protects our source water
Ontario protects our source water through the Clean Water Act which:
- requires that local communities - through local Source Protection Committees - assess existing and potential threats to their water, and that they set out and implement the actions needed to reduce or eliminate these threats
- empowers communities to take action to prevent threats from becoming significant
- requires public participation on every local source protection plan - the planning process for source protection is open to anyone in the community
- requires that all plans and actions are based on sound science.
The Clean Water Act also introduces the Ontario Drinking Water Stewardship Program which offers financial assistance to farmers, landowners, and small or medium businesses for activities that reduce threats to local drinking water sources.