Public comment sought on report about Grand River drinking water

A report on municipal drinking water sys­tems in the Grand River watershed is now available for re­view and comment by the public.

The 1,000-page Draft As­sess­­ment Report for the Grand River watershed provid­es in­for­mation on municipal drink­ing water systems serving more than 770,000 people.

The public consultation period began Aug. 16 and ends Sept. 24.

The report describes the sources of water used by the muni­cipal systems, how vul­ner­able they are to contami­nation and the types of activi­ties taking place in vulnerable areas that could contaminate the water sources.

The report is a step in the multi-year process of devel­oping a source water protec­tion plan for the municipal water systems. The plan will identify the policies and programs need­ed to reduce the risks to source water posed by human activities. The plan is scheduled to be com­pleted by August 2012.

That effort is being over­seen by the Lake Erie region source protection committee, which on Aug. 12 approved re­lease of the report for public consultation. The committee was set up under the Ontario Clean Water Act, which was passed by the Ontario legisla­ture in response to the Walker­ton water crisis.

More information on the report, the Clean Water Act, and source water protection is at www.sourcewater.ca.

The report can be seen at:

- www.sourcewater.ca;

- at the GRCA office, 400 Clyde Rd., Cambridge;and

- at municipal and First Nations offices throughout the watershed. A complete list of offices is available on the website.

People can learn more about the report and make comments at five public meetings that are scheduled for:

- Sept. 8, Grand Valley, at the Grand Valley community centre, 90 Main Street North;

- Sept. 9, Waterloo: Water­loo Region Emergency Servic­es Training and Research Com­plex, 1010 Erbs Road;

- Sept. 13, Cambridge, GRCA office, 400 Clyde Road;

- Sept. 14, Guelph: Italian Canadian Club, 135 Ferguson Street; and

- Sept. 15, Brantford: Tran­quility Hall, 135 Francis Street.

All meetings run from 7 to 9 pm.

People can comment in writing by:

- e-mail to   comments@­source­water.ca;

- fax,    519-621-4945; or

- mail to    Martin Keller, Source Protection Program Manager, Lake Erie Source Protection Region, c/o Grand River Conservation Authority 400 Clyde Road, Cambridge ON, N1R 5W6.