Ontario government: one-year moratorium on water-taking
Saturday, December 20, 2003This moratorium is a positive step by the Ontario government towards supporting the central points raised by Ottawa Riverkeeper (ORK) in February 2003 regarding the previous government’s granting of the water-taking request of OMYA Canada Inc. from an Ottawa River tributary: the Tay River. However, ORK proposes that the moratorium cover a two year period and be expanded in scope to include ecological considerations that are critical for a healthy watershed.
We are pleased to hear of the recent announcement of a one-year moratorium on some forms of water-taking in Ontario to permit the preparation of the watershed-based water budgets called for by the Walkerton Commission.
While we think that the moratorium is a positive step, we have sent a letter to the Ontario Government proposing a longer, two year, moratorium. This is in order to provide the Technical Experts Committee with sufficient time for appropriately comprehensive research, consultation and discussion with both the concerned public and the Implementation Committee.
It appears that additional water-taking requests for golf courses and mine de-watering are excluded from the moratorium. They should not be, as both are serious concerns within the Ottawa River watershed and beyond. A proliferation of golf course development, for example, appears to be placing a heavy burden on the watershed sustainability in thin-soil areas of Lanark, Leeds and Grenville and Ottawa. Accordingly, we need to have clear, dependable water budget information before additional commitment are made in these areas. Similarly, de-watering of major industrial sites such the Adams Mine in the headwaters of the Ottawa River (apparently beyond the geographic reach of the present moratorium) present major challenges to watershed protection. Such initiatives also should be put on hold until the committees have done their work.
Technical Experts Committee mandate, as currently defined, is too narrowly focused on the volume of water being taken without sufficient consideration of the ecological factors which are critical to maintaining water quality beyond the achievement of minimal public health standards.
We have, therefore, proposed that Membership of the Technical Experts Committee should better reflect the need for the input of an ecological integrity perspective by the addition of one or more watershed ecologists.
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