Safe water legislation introduced

Long-awaited legislation protecting water from the source to the tap was introduced yesterday, but it will take up to five years to implement. Aboard a boat in Toronto Harbour, Ontario’s Environment Minister Laurel Broten said clean water is a precious commodity that must be protected.

“ Everyone has a right to clean water and we all have a responsibility to protect it . . . we must be able to trust the water that comes out of taps and trust the source,” Broten said. The proposed legislation will:

Require municipalities and conservation authorities to map sources of drinking water supply — ground and surface water — and prevent the supply from being depleted or contaminated.

Direct local communities to monitor any activity threatening water quality or quantity and determine the action required to reduce or remove that threat.

Empower local authorities to stop threats to water before they develop into serious problems. A clean- water law was prominent among the recommendations from the Walkerton taintedwater inquiry, with Justice Dennis O’Connor concluding water has to be protected from sources of contamination.

“ None of us can or should forget Walkerton,” Broten said, referring to the May 2000 E. coli contamination of the town’s drinking water, which killed seven people and made ill more than 2,300 others.

Aseries of events led to the water being contaminated, including manure draining off a farmer’s field into a town well. The government recently announced $67.5 million — $51 million over five years for technical studies and $ 16.5 million for conservation authorities over the next year for staff and resources to complete the mapping.