Video Marks 25 Years of Source Water Protection

Press Release – Mississippi-Rideau Source Protection Region  

Safeguarding the rivers, lakes and groundwater that provide Ontario’s drinking water may seem like common sense today, but 25 years ago our robust source water protections simply didn’t exist.

A new video from Conservation Ontario’s Source Water Protection Program highlights just how far source protection has come since May 2000, when the village of Walkerton, ON endured an unprecedented drinking water contamination event in which 2,300 residents fell ill and seven people died.

The video features retired Justice Dennis O’Connor, who led the public inquiry into the events at Walkerton and developed the recommendations that formed today’s multi-barrier protection approach. This included the creation of Ontario’s Clean Water Act, 2006 as well as 19 source protection areas across the province including the Mississippi-Rideau Source Protection Region (MRSPR).

Today, these agencies partner with local municipalities, industries, homeowners, farmers and businesses located in drinking water protection zones to keep contaminants out of nearby lakes, rivers and groundwater.

Throughout the video, Justice O’Connor and other key source water protection advocates, policymakers and stakeholders share their insights and memories of developing one of North America’s most robust drinking water protection frameworks.

“It was a heartening experience to see people from across Canada come together with a single, unified goal of protecting our sources of drinking water,” O’Connor says in the video. “It’s one of the most memorable things that I’ve ever been involved in.”

Other interviewees include:

• Carl Kuhnke, Chair of Source Protection Committee (Saugeen, Grey Sauble, Northern Bruce Peninsula Source Protection Region), former CEO of the Walkerton Clean Water Centre, and Municipality of Brockton Councillor
• Jacqueline Kelly-Pemberton, Agricultural Source Protection Committee Member (Raisin-South Nation Source Protection Region)
• Keith Taylor, Program Manager, Trent Conservation Coalition
• Mary Wooding, Retired Ontario Ministry of Environment Liaison Officer (Eastern Ontario)
• Richard Lindgren, Source Protection Committee Member (Cataraqui Source Protection Area), Lawyer with Canadian Environmental Association

Loyalist College filmmaking student Goutham Kokila produced and edited the film on behalf of Conservation Ontario.

Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUhKuGy5Tss

To learn more about source water protection in the Mississippi-Rideau region, visit www.mrsourcewater.ca.