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3.
OTTAWA REPRESENTATION ON
DRINKING WATER SOURCE PROTECTION COMMITTEES REPRÉSENTATION D’OTTAWA AU SEIN DES
COMITÉS DE PROTECTION DES SOURCES D’EAU POTABLE |
That Council approve that the City Clerk submit the names of Councillors Alex Cullen and Christine Leadman to be the two Ottawa (municipal) members of the Source Protection Committee for the Mississippi-Rideau Source Protection Region and the name of Councillor Clive Doucet to be the Ottawa (municipal) member of the Source Protection Committee for the Raisin-South Nation Source Protection Region.
Recommandation
dU COMITÉ DE L’AGRICULTURE ET DES QUESTIONS RURALES, ET
DU COMITÉ DE L’URBANISME ET DE L’ENVIRONNEMENT
Que le Conseil approuve que le greffier municipal soumette le nom des conseillers Alex Cullen et Christine Leadman et celui du conseiller Clive Doucet pour siéger respectivement au comité de protection des sources de la région Mississippi-Rideau et au comité de protection des sources de la région Raisin-la Nation Sud comme membres municipaux représentant la Ville d’Ottawa.
Documentation
1.
Deputy City Manager, Planning, Transit and the
Environment report dated 19 September 2007
(ACS2007-PTE-APR-0166)
Report to/Rapport au :
Planning and
Environment Committee
Comité de l'urbanisme et de l'environnement
and/et
Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee
Comité de l'agriculture et des questions rurales
and Council / et au Conseil
28 September 2007 / le 28 septembre 2007
Submitted by/Soumis par : Nancy Schepers, Deputy City Manager/Directeur
municipal adjoint,
Planning, Transit and the Environment/Urbanisme, Transport en commun et
Environnement
Contact
Person/Personne-ressource : Carol Christensen, Manager/Gestionnaire,
Environmental Sustainability/Durabilité de l’environnement, Economic and Environmental Sustainability/Viabilité économique et de la
durabilité de l’environnement
(613)
580-2424 x21610, Carol.Christensen@ottawa.ca
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SUBJECT: |
OTTAWA REPRESENTATION ON
DRINKING WATER SOURCE PROTECTION COMMITTEES |
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OBJET : |
REPRÉSENTATION D’OTTAWA AU SEIN DES COMITÉS DE PROTECTION DES SOURCES
D’EAU POTABLE |
REPORT RECOMMENDATION
That Planning and Environment Committee and Agriculture and Rural
Affairs Committee recommend that Council approve that the City Clerk submit the
names of Councillors Alex Cullen and Christine Leadman to be the two Ottawa
(municipal) members of the Source Protection Committee for the
Mississippi-Rideau Source Protection Region and the name of Councillor Clive
Doucet to be the Ottawa (municipal) member of the Source Protection Committee
for the Raisin-South Nation Source Protection Region.
RECOMMANDATION DU
RAPPORT
Que le Comité de
l'urbanisme et de l'environnement et le Comité de l’agriculture et des affaire
rurales recommandent au Conseil d’approuver que le greffier municipal soumette
le nom des conseillers Alex Cullen et Christine Leadman et celui du conseiller
Clive Doucet pour siéger respectivement au comité de protection des sources de
la région Mississippi-Rideau et au comité de protection des sources de la
région Raisin-la Nation Sud comme membres municipaux représentant la Ville
d’Ottawa.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Assumptions
and Analysis:
Under the Clean Water Act, Ottawa is included in two Source Protection Regions, the Mississippi-Rideau and the Raisin-South Nation. A number of final regulations under the Clean Water Act were posted on the EBR on July 3, including the one for Source Protection Committees (SPCs). The regulation established time limits and responsibilities for appointing members of SPCs. It gave the Source Protection Authorities (SPAs) a decision-making role in determining groupings of municipalities and the allocation of municipal seats among the groupings. Mississippi-Rideau has allocated two seats to the City of Ottawa; Raisin-South Nation has allocated one seat. The SPAs have provided formal notice of the seat allocation and requested that the municipalities submit their approved names for the municipal seats.
The Deputy City Manager of Planning, Transit and the Environment wrote to the Mayor and City Council in June 2007 to canvas interest in serving on the Source Protection Committees. Three Councillors (Councillors Cullen, Leadman and Doucet) indicated an interest.
The intake protection zones for the Britannia and Lemieux Water Purification plants may affect land uses in Wards 7 and 15, Councillors Cullen’s and Leadman’s wards respectively. It is proposed that the City Clerk submit the names of these two Councillors to the Mississippi and Rideau Source Protection Authorities and the name of Councillor Doucet to the Raisin and South Nation Source Protection Authorities as the municipal members from Ottawa.
The regulations do not permit Conservation Authority (CA) Board members to serve on the Source Protection Committee for that CA. This restriction affects a number of rural Councillors. However, the CA Boards are the Source Protection Authorities (SPAs), so these Councillors will also have an important role to play in the source protection process. SPAs are responsible for submitting the SPC’s work to the Ministry of Environment for approval and that includes reviewing the work and attaching comments (the SPA cannot alter the SPC’s original documents). SPAs will also receive quarterly status reports from the SPC Chair.
Financial
Implications:
This report has no financial implications for the City of Ottawa.
The first task of the Source Protection Committees will be to prepare Terms of Reference for the development of the Technical Assessment report and the Source Protection Plans. Preparation of the Terms of Reference requires decisions on the respective roles of municipal and source protection staff and perhaps on the inclusion of other drinking water systems, beyond the mandatory municipal residential drinking water systems. Decisions taken during the preparation of the Terms of Reference will provide a clearer picture of future staff and other resource requirements. This will be the subject of a future report to Council.
Public
Consultation/Input:
There has been no public consultation on the choice of municipal members to represent the City of Ottawa. The Source Protection Authorities have asked the public for comment on the allocation of the sector and the general interest seats on each Source Protection Committee and have asked for applications to be appointed to these seats.
RÉSUMÉ
Hypothèses et analyse :
Aux termes de la Loi sur l’eau saine,
Ottawa fait partie de deux régions de protection des sources, soit celle de
Mississippi-Rideau et celle de Raisin-la Nation Sud. Le 3 juillet dernier,
un certain nombre de règlements pris en application de la Loi sur l’eau saine
ont été affichés sur le Registre environnemental, dont un concernant les
comités de protection des sources. Ce règlement, qui définit les
responsabilités et les délais associés à la constitution des comités, confère
aux offices de protection des sources un rôle décisionnel en ce qui a trait aux
groupes de municipalités pouvant siéger aux comités et au nombre de
représentants admis pour chacune. L’office responsable de la région
Mississippi-Rideau a ainsi accordé deux sièges à la Ville d’Ottawa; celui de la
région Raisin–la Nation Sud, un siège. Les offices ont diffusé des avis
officiels à ce sujet et demandé que les municipalités soumettent le nom des
personnes sélectionnées pour les représenter.
La directrice municipale adjointe d’Urbanisme,
Transport en commun et Environnement a écrit au maire et aux membres du Conseil
municipal en juin 2007 afin de connaître leur intérêt à siéger à l’un de ces
comités. Trois conseillers (Alex Cullen, Christine Leadman et Clive Doucet) ont
répondu à l’appel.
Les zones de protection des prises d’eau des
usines de purification de l’eau de Britannia et de l’île Lemieux peuvent avoir
une incidence sur les utilisations du sol permises dans les quartiers 7 et
15, qui relèvent respectivement du conseiller Cullen et de la conseillère
Leadman. Il est donc proposé que le greffier municipal soumette le nom de ces
deux conseillers aux offices de protection des sources de Mississippi et de
Rideau, et celui du conseiller Doucet aux offices de Raisin et de la Nation
Sud, à titre de membres municipaux pour Ottawa.
Les règlements pris en application de la Loi
ne permettent pas aux membres d’un office de protection de la nature de
siéger au comité de protection des sources (CPS) de cet office, ce qui exclut
la candidature de bon nombre des conseillers du secteur rural. Cependant, comme
les membres des offices de protection de la nature forment les offices de
protection des sources (OPS), ces conseillers auront également un rôle
important à jouer dans le processus de protection des sources. Les OPS sont
chargés de soumettre le travail des CPS à l’approbation du ministère de
l’Environnement, ce qui suppose qu’ils doivent en prendre connaissance et le
commenter au préalable (un OPS ne peut cependant pas modifier les documents
originaux d’un CPS). En outre, les présidents des CPS sont tenus de remettre
des rapports trimestriels à l’OPS dont ils relèvent.
Répercussions financières
Le
présent rapport n'a pas de répercussions financières pour la Ville d’Ottawa.
La
première tâche des comités de protection des sources consistera à définir le
cadre de référence qui régira la préparation d’un rapport d’évaluation
technique et de plans de protection des sources. L’élaboration du cadre de
référence nécessitera la prise de décisions concernant les rôles respectifs des
employés municipaux et du personnel chargé de la protection des sources et,
éventuellement, l’inclusion de réseaux d’eau potable autres que ceux devant
être fournis par les municipalités pour desservir leurs secteurs résidentiels.
Une fois ces décisions prises, les besoins futurs en matière de ressources
humaines et autres seront mieux connus. Cette question fera l’objet d’un
rapport ultérieur au Conseil.
Consultation publique/commentaires
Le choix des membres devant représenter la
Ville d’Ottawa au sein des comités n'a fait l'objet d'aucune consultation
publique. Les offices de protection des sources ont invité le public à se
prononcer sur l’attribution des sièges réservés aux intérêts sectoriels et
généraux au sein de chaque comité de protection des sources et ont sollicité
des candidatures pour combler ces sièges.
BACKGROUND
The Province of Ontario has been steadily implementing the recommendations of the Walkerton inquiry, many of them through the Clean Water Act and related Drinking Water Source Protection program. Staff has brought several reports on this subject to Committee and Council, most recently in May 2007. That report advised of the final form of the Clean Water Act and sought approval of staff comments on the draft Source Protection Committee regulation that had been posted on the Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) registry for public comment.
Ottawa is included in two Source Protection Regions. Individual source protection plans will be prepared for each watershed in a Source Protection Region. The Source Protection Committee for Mississippi-Rideau region will prepare source protections plans for the Rideau watershed, which includes the municipal systems in Ottawa (Britannia and Lemieux Island), Munster Hamlet and Kings Park in Richmond; and for the Mississippi watershed, which includes Carp. Altogether, the region includes 12 municipal systems, including Perth, Smiths Falls, Carleton Place, Merrickville, Almonte, Kemptville and Westport. The two watersheds include 27 upper and lower-tier municipalities and take in a portion of the Counties of Lennox and Addington, Frontenac, Lanark and Leeds and Grenville.
The Source Protection Committee for Raisin-South Nation region will prepare plans encompassing the municipal systems in Vars and Shadow Ridge plus 13 other municipal drinking water systems in their two watersheds. Altogether, the two watersheds include 21 upper and lower-tier municipalities and take in the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, the United Counties of Prescott and Russell, a portion of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, and a portion of the City of Ottawa.
DISCUSSION
Membership on Source Protection Committees
A number of final regulations under the Clean Water Act were posted on the EBR on July 3, 2007 including the one for Source Protection Committees (SPCs). The regulation established time limits and responsibilities for appointing members of SPCs. Conservation Authority boards within a Source Protection Region are the Source Protection Authority for the Region. The Source Protection Authorities must advertise and forward nominations for Chairs of SPCs to the Minister. The Chairs of the Source Protection Committee were appointed in late August. Janet Stavinga will chair the SPC for the Mississippi-Rideau region. Claude Cousineau from Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry will chair the Raisin-South Nation SPC.
The Source Protection Authorities also advertise, receive applications/nominations and appoint the SPC members for the seats assigned to the sectoral interests (e.g. agriculture, industrial) and the seats assigned to more general interests.
The regulation gave the Source Protection Authorities (SPAs) a decision-making role in determining groupings of municipalities and the allocation of municipal seats among the groupings. When Council dealt with the staff report in May 2007, it approved a motion asking for additional seats for the City of Ottawa on the Mississippi-Rideau Source Protection Committee (SPC). The final regulation increased the number of seats on the Mississippi-Rideau SPC from 13 to 16, so there are now five municipal seats. The Source Protection Authority for the Mississippi-Rideau Source Protection Region has approved allocating the additional seat to the City of Ottawa, giving the City two seats on that SPC. The City of Ottawa is proposed to have one seat on the Raisin-South Nation Source Protection Committee.
Under the regulation the SPAs have given a notice to all municipal clerks that includes a list of the groupings, municipalities in each group, and the number of seats assigned to each group. Because Ottawa has seats assigned only to it, our Council does not have to work with a grouping of municipalities to jointly submit names. These notices have been received from the two SPAs that cover Ottawa.
The Deputy City Manager of Planning, Transit and the Environment wrote to the Mayor and City Council in June 2007 to canvas interest in serving on the Source Protection Committees. Three Councillors (Councillors Cullen, Leadman and Doucet) indicated an interest in sitting on the Source Protection Committees.
The intake protection zones for the Britannia and Lemieux Water Purification plants may affect land uses in Wards 7 and 15, Councillors Cullen’s and Leadman’s wards respectively. It is proposed that the City Clerk submit the names of these two Councillors to the Mississippi and Rideau Source Protection Authorities as the two municipal members from Ottawa.
The regulation does not permit members of Conservation Authority Boards whose area of jurisdiction includes any part of the source protection region to sit on Source Protection Committees for that source protection region. (This restriction affects many rural Councillors.) Councillor Doucet anticipates taking a seat on the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority Board this fall. He therefore is ineligible to be on the Mississippi-Rideau Source Protection Committee, but can sit on the Raisin/ South Nation Source Protection Committee.
It is proposed that the City Clerk submit the name of Councillor Doucet to the Raisin-South Nation Source Protection Authorities as the municipal member from Ottawa.
Next Steps
The first task of the Source Protection Committees will be to prepare Terms of Reference for the development of the Technical Assessment report and the Source Protection Plans. This is a work plan for the next five years. The work plan will identify what work is assigned to municipalities, SPAs and the SPC. Under the regulations the municipality may decide which tasks to undertake directly. Also during the preparation of the Terms of Reference a municipality may designate, by municipal council resolution, other drinking water systems to be included in the source water protection process. It is unclear when sufficient information will be available on the implications of adding other drinking water systems. The availability of this information will determine whether the decision is made at the Terms of Reference stage or by later amendment to the Terms of Reference.
In the report to Council in May 2007 staff advised that the equivalent of two full-time staff positions have been engaged in various aspects of drinking water source protection. This engagement is primarily coordination of responses to EBR postings, participation in Working Groups already underway in the two source protection regions and the management of the Intake Protection Zone studies by staff in the Water Services Division.
The staff time commitment will increase substantially with the formation of Source Protection Committees and the consequent preparation of Terms of Reference. The anticipated posting on the EBR of a draft regulation for the Technical Assessment Reports and a discussion paper on Source Protection Plans will also entail a major effort to coordinate a response at the staff level and bring it to Committee and Council for review and approval. This workload can be accommodated only by shifting priorities and may reach a point where additional staff resources are required. Unfortunately provincial funding of the drinking water source protection process does not cover municipal costs for staff participation, a concern that has frequently been raised in our submissions to the province throughout this process.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
The appointment of municipal members to Source Protection Committees has no direct environmental implications. The overall Drinking Water Source Protection program will lead to greater protection of both the quality and quantity of source water for municipal drinking water systems.
RURAL IMPLICATIONS
The proposed appointments to the Source Protection Committees all represent urban wards. However, the rural wards will also have representation in the process, since Councillors for the rural wards sit on the boards of the Mississippi (El-Chantiry), Rideau (Brooks) and South Nation (Councillors Jellett, Thompson) Conservation Authorities.
The CA Boards are the Source Protection Authorities (SPAs). The Source Protection Committees will prepare Terms of Reference, Assessment Reports and Source Protection Plans. In each case the SPC submits the document to the SPA who then submits the document to the Minister (Terms of Reference and Source Protection Plan) or Director (Assessment Report) together with any comments the SPA wishes to make.
CONSULTATION
There has been no public consultation on the choice of municipal members to represent the City of Ottawa. The Source Protection Authorities have asked the public for comment on the allocation of the sector and the general interest seats on each Source Protection Committee and have asked for applications to be appointed to these seats.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
This report has no financial implications for the City of Ottawa. The Councillors’ travel expenses will be reimbursed through the Drinking Water Source Protection program funding. The issue of per diems for municipal members will be decided through the preparation of Operating Procedures for each Source Protection Committee.
The municipal staff time commitment to source protection planning will increase substantially with the formation of Source Protection Committees and the consequent preparation of Terms of Reference. Decisions taken during the preparation of the Terms of Reference will provide a clearer picture of future staff and other resource requirements. This will be the subject of a future report to Council.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
N/A
DISPOSITION
The City Clerk to submit the names approved by Council to the Source Protection Authorities of the Mississippi-Rideau and Raisin-South Nation Source Protection Regions.