NEARLY A DECADE FOR SOURCE PROTECTION PLANS

After the Walkerton water crisis and fiasco (including deaths); the guiltiest of them all, the province of Ontario passed the Clean Water Act of 2006. This of course was six years after the crisis hence the title above simply refers to the time to finalize Source Protection Plans since they were legally mandated in 2006. This week's Woolwich Observer carrys an article titled "Province clears water-protection plan for Grand River watershed".

The Ontario Ministry of the Environment has just approved the Grand River Source Protection Plan on November 26/15. It is the last approved of the four plans produced by the Lake Erie Source Protection Committee and also apparently the last of the 22 source water protection plans for the entire province. Interesting that we come in dead last environmentally yet again.

I have been reading the various Drafts over the years and indeed there is a lot of good information, maps and drawings in them. Very educational. As far as these plans actually doing anything, well that's another story. Our authorities in particular firstly have known where their own drinking wells and surface water intakes are, forever. Secondly they've all known for decades what the problems are, whether agriculutural runoff or industrial. Same thing with sewage treatment plants. Simply spending more money on sewage treatment and enforcement of current on the books laws would do far more than making source protection plans. This is all about face saving and appearances by our complicit and negligent governments. Business as usual.