Study by Environmental Commissioner Documents Problems in Management of Ontario's Water
(Toronto, February 01, 2001) - The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario (ECO) submitted a study to the Walkerton Inquiry today that pointed to deficiencies in the management of major water takings in Ontario. The study, "Ontario's Permit to Take Water Program and the Protection of Ontario's Water Resources," is based on background research prepared for the ECO's recently released annual report. Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller said the research indicates that Ministry of the Environment (MOE) staff may be allowing users to take thousands of litres of ground or surface water per day without having fully accurate information on how much water is actually being taken in an area or how much water will be available in the future.
"We think the Walkerton Inquiry will be interested in our review," said Commissioner Miller, who monitors whether provincial ministries comply with the Environmental Bill of Rights. "When ministry staff issue permits without taking into account how much water is available in a locality, it means not enough importance is being given to the consideration of Ontario's ecosystems."
Under the Ontario Water Resources Act, water taking in excess of 50,000 litres per day requires a Permit to Take Water (PTTW) from the Ministry of the Environment. The ECO study reviewed the PTTWs posted by the ministry on the Environmental Registry, an Internet site showing the government's environmentally significant proposals and decisions. ECO staff found that descriptions of some of the water-taking permits included incorrectly reported sources of water, inaccurate water quantities, and the inconsistent use of both Metric litres and Imperial gallons as units of measure.
Along with the broad exemptions MOE grants for many water takings, these inconsistencies and deficiencies, Commissioner Miller said, suggest that the ministry would not be able to develop accurate regional overviews of exactly how much is being taken from Ontario's ground and surface water sources.
"This not only threatens Ontario's ecosystems," Miller added. "I'm concerned that inaccuracies in Registry notices for PTTWs and missing information in some of the permits themselves mean that public accountability and transparency are also threatened."
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