| CRCA starts water-protection tour |
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By NICK GARDINER Brockville Recorder and Times January 9, 2010 Brockville city council is one of the first in line for an update on the progress of provincial plans to protect local sources of drinking water. City council will receive a presentation Tuesday from staff with the Cataraqui Source Protection Area about the development of a plan scheduled to be implemented in 2012. "The goal is to make sure municipal councils are up to speed on this project," said Karla Maki-Esdon, communications co-ordinator for the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority, which has jurisdiction over a committee developing the plan. Maki-Esdon said meetings are planned with 12 municipalities that have water sources that fall under the committee's jurisdiction. The update will include information gleaned from previous municipal and public meetings since the province's Liberal government introduced a sweeping province-wide initiative to address water concerns in 2006. Maki-Esdon said the approaching meetings are explicitly for municipal councils, but source protection staff will set up displays where space permits and engage local residents following the presentations. The local source protection plan will address threats to municipal drinking water intakes including Brockville's intake pipe in the St. Lawrence River. A protection zone ascribed by the provincial plan around the water intake extends into U.S. waters and touches on several islands and parts of the north shore of the river. Other local meetings will take place in Mallorytown, Jan. 18; New Dublin, Jan. 25; Athens, Feb. 1; Gananoque, Feb. 2; Delta, Feb. 15 and Lansdowne, March 8. All meetings are at 7 p.m. in the municipal council chambers. Meanwhile, a draft assessment of municipal wells and fresh-water intakes that was expected to be released by now will be delayed until spring, noted Maki-Esdon. Following the report's release, public meetings will be held and a final report is scheduled to go to the Ministry of Environment next fall for consideration, she said. If further changes are needed, it will go back to the public for consultation, she added. She said the main focus is on municipal wells and intake systems, but the committee is also examining areas where a vulnerable aquifer is connected to the fresh water source. |
| Last Updated ( Sunday, 10 January 2010 22:13 ) |