Approved updates to the Quinte Source Protection Plan and Assessment Report

The CWA helps communities safeguard their drinking water sources from contamination and depletion. It does this by requiring the creation of collaborative, science-based, watershed protection plans that are locally driven and focused on prevention.

The Quinte Source Protection Authority prepared these updates to ensure the continued protection of sources of drinking water in this area.

Updates to the assessment report

The updates to the assessment report include:

• assessed locations where above‑ground fuel handling and storage, as well as liquid hydrocarbon pipelines, pose significant, moderate, or low risks to drinking water sources
• updated mapping of significant groundwater recharge areas (SGRA), impervious surface areas, managed lands, and livestock density
• updated protection zone mapping for Picton, Madoc, and Peats Point drinking water systems
• updated technical work, terminology, and concepts to align with the 2021 technical rules under the Clean Water Act, 2006

Updates to the source protection plan

The updated Quinte Source Protection Plan includes changes to source protection plan policies, specifically:

• 14 new policies
• the removal of three previously approved policies
• substantive revisions to 28 previously approved policies
• minor revisions to 24 previously approved policies

The policy changes described above were undertaken and approved to:

• align with the approved changes to the 2021 technical rules under the Clean Water Act, 2006, such as to reflect changes to vulnerability scores and thresholds for activities like fuel storage and road salt
• update policies to reflect current local conditions, including those involving non‑agricultural pesticides and road salt use
• improve implementation of, and reporting on, prescribed instrument policies
• clarify and simplify policy text

The Quinte Source Protection Authority held consultations while the updates were being developed. Public consultation was held from January 13, 2024, to February 22, 2024, and draft documents continued to be publicly available on the Quinte Source Protection Region’s website until March 20, 2024. Pursuant to the Clean Water Act, 2006, they invited comments from:

• implementing bodies (including provincial government ministries and local municipalities)
• the public and affected landowners
• bands with reserves in the affected area

Comments submitted to the Quinte Source Protection Authority included a combination of editorial comments, or questions seeking clarification, as well as more substantive comments on some policies. None of these comments resulted in changes to the proposed updates. Comments from the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks resulted in both minor and substantive changes to their policies and the assessment report.

The authority considered and addressed comments received and made appropriate revisions and responses before submitting the final proposed update to the ministry for approval.

The minister has concluded that the comments the source protection authority received during consultation on the Quinte Source Protection Plan and Quinte Source Protection Area Assessment Report have been adequately considered and addressed, and that the legislative and regulatory requirements under the Clean Water Act, 2006 relating to the updates have been met.

These updates take effect upon this posting of the minister’s approval on the Environmental Registry. The approved updates to the Quinte Source Protection Plan and Quinte Source Protection Area Assessment Report are available on the Quinte Source Protection Authority’s website. Source Protection Plan | Source Water Protection