Feature Article May 6, 2004
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Changes are coming to Safe Drinking Water Act Dombrowsky
As the MPP from a rural riding as well as Minister of the Environment in Ontario, Leona Dombrowsky has heard many municipal politicians tell her how expensive compliance with the Safe Drinking Water act is going to be, and she has decided to take steps to make compliance easier for rural municipalities.
I have instructed my staff to make changes to Regulation 170-03, which will involve relaxing timelines for compliance. There will be an announcement in a couple of weeks, Leona Dombrowsky told the News in Flinton last Saturday.
Dombrowsky added that the Ministry is seeking input so that municipalities will be able to guarantee that the drinking water in public facilities is safe, without causing undue stress on municipal budgets.
All of the municipalities in the readership area of the News are at some stage in the process of putting themselves in compliance with Regulation 170-03, as it applies to public facilities, which includes community halls, public offices, and recreational facilities.
South Frontenac has received responses to a tender call, and are on the verge of allocating $65,000 from the 2004 budget towards evaluation, engineering and ongoing testing of 12 sites within the township, and budgeting $75,000 for the installation of water filtration/treatment systems for five sites: Glendower Hall in Bedford, the Princess Anne building in Hartington, the OPP office, the Storrington Centre, and the Harris building in Perth Road.
In Central Frontenac, the process has not progressed as far, but $65,000 has been put in their 2004 budget for Regulation 170-03 compliance. Both North Frontenac and Addington Highlands are expected to allocate funds in their 2004 budgets as well.
The regulation requires the installation of an ultraviolet filtration system on all public wells, regardless of the cleanliness of the water, and requires expensive weekly testing of the water as well. Wells that are found to have unsafe water or to be influenced by surface water will require more expensive treatments.
Dombrowsky said it is possible that the testing regimen may be relaxed, along with municipalities being granted more time to comply with the Act.
As it stands, testing of public water facilities for small, municipal non-residential water systems was set to begin in June of last year. The wells are to be tested for 72 chemicals, not solely for coliform contamination, as has been the practice until now. Evaluation, engineering, and installation of filtration systems is to be accomplished by the end of next year.
We dont want to see Community Halls being closed down because of the Safe Drinking Water Act, Dombrowsky said, and we will be working with municipalities to make sure that does not happen, while at the same time ensuring safe water for Ontarians.
