22 August 2007
source water protection (SWP)
Passage of the Safeguarding and Sustaining Ontario's Water Act, is intended to strengthen the management, protection and conservation of Ontario's water resources. However, [provincial NDP leader] Hampton said the legislation is toothless: "While the rhetoric of the legislation is all high sounding and has all of the right buzz words in it, when you actually look at the legal standards in the legislation and the legal requirements in the legislation, they are very lax.There is nothing in the legislation to prevent a large private company from taking large quantities of water from local aquifers or from transferring water out of the Great Lakes." (1)
The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement, signed by the province of Ontario and the other provinces and states bordering the Great Lakes. Article 201 (1) a. December 2005:
“All water withdrawn from the basin shall be returned, either naturally or after use, to the Source watershed.” Clearly this clause prohibits the use of water outside its watershed of origin. (2)
How can one protect source water? "In considering of groundwater and linked surface water resources, a key issue in watershed protection is the recognition and evaluation of sensitive hydrogeological terrains such as recharge areas, preferential pathways and discharge areas. To adequately assess flow systems from 'source to tap' requires a geological framework developed using a basin analysis^ principle...It is clear that our understanding of most moraines in southern Ontario is poorly developed, particularly in the subsurface and with respect to aquifer characterization.*" (3)
Perhaps the following principles should apply to all planning decisions? cf. “The principles....--- precautionary principle, ecosystem approach, cumulative impact assessment, inter-generational protection and conservation of our waters–-are currently contained in the Ontario government’s law and policy.” (2)
Maps and notes: ^ the Grand River watershed drains 6965 km2 = to 10% of direct drainage to Lake Erie & is part of the larger Grand, Long Point, Catfish and Kettle SWP
* Kame or stratified** moraines*** are composed of gravel, sand and silt, deposited at the margin of inactive ice. Till moraines are mapped as massive sediment bodies and thought to be deposited by advancing ice. It is increasingly apparent, however, that many so-called till moraines are also stratified." (3)
** for map of Ontario stratified moraines go to: http://www.isgs.uiuc.edu/research/3DWorkshop/2005/pdf-files/russell2005.pdf
*** to understand moraines in general, use the following links: http://gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/landscapes/pdf/moraines_e.pdf
and
http://www.isgs.uiuc.edu/maps-data-pub/publications/geobits/geobit2.shtml
Map above of Waterloo Moraine differentiates between kame and till moraines-- a crucial distinction in terms of source water as kame moraines^ encourage infiltration of water into aquifers whereas till moraines prevent infiltration of water and act as aquitards. A brief glossary of geological terms coming into common usage:
Glacial till is a poorly-sorted mixture of clay, silt, sand and stones deposited by glacial ice. It appears in various forms: a) drumlins (elongated ridges of glacial drift); b) kames ( conical hills or short ridges); c) eskers (elongated, serpentine ridges of sand and gravel). ^ From study of Waterloo Moraine cross-section between St. Agatha and Mannheim: "the surficial geology consists primarily of fine sand, silt and silt-sand toclay-silt dimaticons....can be abruptly overlain by mud-rich units of 1-3 m thickness...laterally continuous for 100's metres and in the absence of erosion windows are aquitards." (5)
Map above of Waterloo Moraine differentiates between kame and till moraines-- a crucial distinction in terms of source water as kame moraines^ encourage infiltration of water into aquifers whereas till moraines prevent infiltration of water and act as aquitards. A brief glossary of geological terms coming into common usage:
Glacial till is a poorly-sorted mixture of clay, silt, sand and stones deposited by glacial ice. It appears in various forms: a) drumlins (elongated ridges of glacial drift); b) kames ( conical hills or short ridges); c) eskers (elongated, serpentine ridges of sand and gravel). ^ From study of Waterloo Moraine cross-section between St. Agatha and Mannheim: "the surficial geology consists primarily of fine sand, silt and silt-sand toclay-silt dimaticons....can be abruptly overlain by mud-rich units of 1-3 m thickness...laterally continuous for 100's metres and in the absence of erosion windows are aquitards." (5)
Sources: (1)Rob O'Flanagan, Province isn't doing enough to protect water: NDP leader, Guelph Mercury 21 Jun 07; (2)Wellington Water Watchers letter to MOE re Nestle Renewal of Permit to take Water dated 8 May 2007; available at this link: (http://www.wellingtonwaterwatchers.ca/WWWsubmission-010-0224may07.pdf {3) Sharpe and Russell, Geological Frameworks in Support of Source Water Protection in Ontario, State of Illionois 2005. Conference paper; (4) Golder Associates, Groundwater Resource Assessment County of Huron, ON undated but recent as part of 2005 Water Source protection legislation; (5) Russell, Sharpe, and Bajc, Sediment Architecture and compostion of the Waterloo Moraine, Southern Ontario: Emerging Insights, 2005 Conference paper.
Labels: water
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