Feature Article February 27, 2002
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1480 m a day instead of 4500 mTribunal Decision gives OMYA Less water than it wantedby Jeff GreenOMYA Canada expressed disappointment last week when an Environmental Review Tribunal (ERT) decision came down limiting their ability to take water from the Tay River for production of a calcium carbonate slurry at their processing plant just west of Perth.
The decision came about after hearings last fall, which were held in Perth after leave had been granted to appeal a decision by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE), granting OMYA a permit in August of 2000, which could have allowed the company to take up to 4500 cubic metres per day from the Tay River by the year 2004.
The tribunal ruled last week that only the initial part of the original permit, allowing OMYA to take 1483 cubic metres per day, would stand.
In the initial, phased permit, OMYA would have been required to participate in the collection of data over the next few years to ensure that the larger amount of water being removed from the river would not have adverse environmental consequences. As a result of last weeks decision, however, they are required to begin the application process from scratch if they hope to get a permit to take the 4500 cubic metres per day they would like. As well, more stringent conditions are now attached to the approval, both in terms of monitoring the water flows of the river at all times, and disseminating that information to the ministry, the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, and the general public.
OMYA Canada operates a calcium carbonate quarry in Tatlock, near the village of Lanark, and trucks the calcium carbonate powder along Hwy. 511. to its facility on Hwy 7 at Glen Tay. The water from the Tay River is to be used to create a "slurry", which can then be shipped out for sale as a finished product.
Calling the decision "unfortunate news for the Perth and Lanark economy", OMYA Canada President Oliver Chatillon said the "ERT process has been long, difficult, and fraught with problems. Whereas the original MOE permit laid out conditions and a time frame regarding the second phase of our water permit, the new ERT permit fails to provide a similar road map for the future".
Others view the Environmental Review Tribunal differently, however. The Friends of the Tay Watershed says, "By requiring that the permit holder (OMYA) apply separately for the larger volume, the decision has ensured that adequate time is provided to properly conduct cumulative environmental impact assessments in accordance with both federal and provincial legislation."
Joe
Slater, a former federal government water resources 
department
director, and a resident on Crow Lake, part of the Bob's Lake
reservoir that supplies water to the Tay river and subsequently to the
Rideau Canal, gave testimony to the Tribunal hearing on behalf of one
of the appellants. When contacted by The News, he said, It was a
cautionary approach that was taken. The chair of the Tribunal wanted
additional information before allowing a further amount of water to be
taken.
Slater also felt the process had come about as a result of a failing by the Ministry of the Environment. The decision, from my perspective, points out that the Minister of the Environment did not carry out its responsibilities in the first place.
An applicant for a permit to take water should have to provide all the information for a regulator to make a decision. Its unfortunate that this applicant, OMYA, did not have the best water resource information as part of its application. There wasnt sufficient data to come up with a decision for the 4500 cubic metres per day.
Another example of the miscalculation by the ministry, according to Slater, stemmed from the way the Ministry took the decision. When the Ministry was considering this Permit to Take Water application, they received 283 pieces of correspondence from concerned parties. In previous applications, they had never received more than ten, according to Joe Slater. Nonetheless, the draft permit was granted, on August 24, 2000, without the Ministry calling a single public meeting.
While it is unlikely that either amount of water taking would affect water levels on Bobs and Crow Lakes, there is some question about the effect on fish and vegetation that will result from the Water Taking Permits stipulation that OMYA must only cease when the flow in the Tay river is less than 1 cubic metre per second. Joe Slater questions this, saying The information available today does not show that there will not be an effect on fish and vegetation. There was one study done, but there should be further verification of this one study.
The theme of caution has been picked up by others, who argue that the Ministry of the Environment must take a wider set of factors into account when granting Permits to Take Water. There are calls for a water budget for the Tay watershed. A Watershed Plan for the Tay River is in the final stages of preparation by the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, and the friends of the Tay Watershed Association says, There will be a need for the community to work together in pursuing the recommendations of the Tay Watershed Management Plan, so that a solid foundation of a co-ordinated information gathering and management process is established for the watershed.
There were other issues raised at the Tribunal that were deemed outside its purview, but which are of concern to the public. The amount of truck traffic between the OMYA mine in Tatlock and its plant on Highway 7 is clearly a concern, especially if it is to increase dramatically in the future.
Water issues have become of paramount importance in Ontario recently, and this decision may be seen as one step in the road to greater public awareness and participation in issues related to water. The economic future of the area around the Tay River is increasingly tied in to property development, as people move out from Ottawa and other cities, and this must be reconciled with the needs of employers like OMYA, which employs, directly and through contractors, over 250 people in Perth and Lanark, contributing up to $20 million per year to the local economy, according to their press statement.
Whatever happens, it is clear that the Ministry of the Environment's first ever "phased" water taking permit has ended in disarray.
