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News Release

For immediate release
December 15, 2003

MCGUINTY GOVERNMENT PROTECTS DRINKING WATER
BY HIRING MORE INSPECTORS
Government Cleaning Up Environmental Problems

QUEEN’S PARK — The McGuinty government is boosting the number of water inspectors by 25 per cent, improving Ontarians’ quality of life by protecting the environment and the water we drink, Environment Minister Leona Dombrowsky announced today.

Acting on the government’s promise to implement the recommendations of the Walkerton Inquiry, Dombrowsky told the Legislature the Ministry of the Environment is hiring 33 new full-time water inspectors, investigators and other compliance staff.

“Our government is improving Ontarians’ quality of life and delivering real, positive change where it’s needed most,” said Minister Dombrowsky.

With these new inspectors and compliance staff, the Ministry of the Environment will be able to more effectively enforce environmental laws and:

• Respond to an additional 5,000 reported incidents of adverse water quality — where a water-quality standard has not been met — each year;
• Respond to up to 25,000 resolution reports from waterworks owners each year to ensure incidents have been resolved — a new ministry responsibility under the Safe Drinking Water Act;
• Conduct more announced and unannounced inspections of the labs that test water samples, and;
• Improve the ability to inspect municipal water distribution systems.

Three years after the Walkerton tragedy in which seven people died and 2,300 became seriously ill from drinking tainted water, Ontario’s environmental watchdog, the Environmental Commissioner, warned the water monitoring problem “may be worse than ever.”

“The Tories have left this province with an environmental deficit. Their neglect has left families worrying about their water, communities struggling with urban sprawl and an overall record of environmental mismanagement,” the minister said.

“Ontarians understand, and we understand, that a clean environment and a strong economy go hand in hand. Together they mean a high quality of life.”

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Media contacts:

Arthur Chamberlain Minister’s Office (416) 314-5139

Mark Rabbior Communications Branch (416) 314-6666