What is a Risk Management Plan?

A Risk Management Plan is a document that outlines what measures are in place to reduce or eliminate the risk that a certain activity will contaminate municipal drinking water.

• The plan focuses on prevention — it allows activities that are important to residents and business owners to carry on within vulnerable drinking water areas while at the same time ensuring the municipal drinking water source is protected.
• The plan is site-specific – it is customized to suit the nature of the property, activity or business and can address multiple activities if necessary.
• The plan includes and accounts for measures that are already in place – some people will only need to document what they are already doing to protect drinking water.

How is a Risk Management Plan Created?

The Risk Management Inspector or Official (similar to a Building Inspector or Official) works with the person engaging in the activity to decide what should be in the Risk Management Plan.

• The process provides opportunity for discussion, flexibility and agreement.
• The person engaging in the activity receives recognition of previous efforts and good stewardship actions.
• The Risk Management Official receives formal assurance that effective measures to protect the drinking water source are and will continue to be in place.

Do I need a Risk Management Plan?

Step #1 – Use map tool to determine what vulnerable drinking water area you are in (e.g. WHPA-8).

Step #2 – View Risk Management Plan Summary of Requirements to see if you have an activity that is subject to this requirement.

If you need assistance, contact risk management staff who can confirm whether or not you need a Risk Management Plan and walk you through the process:

• Outside the City of Ottawa, contact risk management staff at the Conservation Authorities
• Within the City of Ottawa, contact risk management staff at the City of Ottawa

Information about voluntary good stewardship practices to protect groundwater region-wide will be coming soon. Please see our library and the links below for resources that are currently available.

• Well Aware website
• Smart About Salt website
• Septic Smart Booklet available on the RVCA website

Many things we do in our homes and on our properties can directly affect local water quantity and quality. That’s why an important part of protecting drinking water is voluntary action taken by those of us who live in the Drinking Water Protection Zone close to our community’s shared drinking water source. This is your guide to “Living in the Zone”. Imagine a community where everyone is a great water resident!

Living in the Zone Action Guide

We are Great Water Residents!

Living in the Zone

 

Under the Clean Water Act, a Source Protection Committee representing multiple stakeholders is required for each source protection region in Ontario. The Source Protection Committee oversees the source protection program and the composition ensures that a variety of local interests are represented at the decision making table.

The Mississippi-Rideau Source Protection Region is made up of two Source Protection Areas – the Mississippi Valley Source Protection Area which is made up of the lands that drain into the Mississippi River (also called the Mississippi watershed) and the Rideau Valley Source Protection Area which encompasses lands that drain into the Rideau River (the Rideau watershed). All or part of 31 municipalities fall within the Mississippi-Rideau Source Protection Region.

About three quarters of the population of the region live in an area that is serviced by the 12 municipal drinking water systems that are the focus of the Mississippi-Rideau Source Protection Plan.

May 2000 – Walkerton Tragedy

The Walkerton tainted water tragedy occurred as a result of E. coli contamination of the groundwater supplying a municipal well. Seven people died and thousands more became ill from drinking the contaminated water. Justice Dennis O’Connor led a public inquiry and made numerous recommendations to better protect Ontario’s drinking water in the future. A key conclusion was the need to have multiple layers of protection in place, a concept commonly referred to as the multi-barrier approach. The first barrier is protecting the drinking water at the source or “Source Water Protection.”

October 2006 – Clean Water Act

The Ontario Government responded to the Walkerton Inquiry recommendations by strengthening existing legislation and introducing new legislation where needed. Ontario did not have any legislation specifically to protect drinking water sources so the Clean Water Act was enacted and the Source Water Protection program began. The focus of the Clean Water Act is the protection of rivers, lakes and groundwater where they supply municipal drinking water systems (the large systems that serve villages, towns and cities). Source protection planning was undertaken locally in 19 source protection regions across Ontario.

2007 – Source Protection Committee

The Clean Water Act stipulated that a local multi-stakeholder Source Protection Committee oversee the source protection program in each source protection region. Municipalities, industry, small business, environmental interests, First Nations, agriculture and the general public were represented on the Mississippi-Rideau Source Protection Committee. The Committee is supported by the Conservation Authorities' Boards of Directors, which under the Clean Water Act, are referred to as "Source Protection Authorities."

2008 – Terms of Reference

Each region created a Terms of Reference that outlined the approach, tasks and responsibilities for the source protection work ahead.

Terms of Reference for the Rideau Valley Source Protection Area
Terms of Reference for the Mississippi Valley Source Protection Area

2010 – Assessment Reports

Assessment Reports are a compilation of studies looking at each watershed’s physical characteristics, water quality and quantity and land use. Assessment Reports were needed in order to understand how water is distributed throughout the watershed and where there are risks of overuse or contamination. The Assessment Reports resulted in the mapping of vulnerable areas around municipal wells called “Wellhead Protection Areas” and near municipal water treatment plant intake pipes called “Intake Protection Zones” These areas became the focus of where mandatory policies in the Source Protection Plan would apply. The Assessments Reports also identified “Highly Vulnerable Aquifers” and “Significant Groundwater Recharge Areas” throughout the region where non-mandatory policies could apply.

Assessment Report - Rideau Valley Source Protection Area
Assessment Report - Mississippi Valley Source Protection Area

2012 – Source Protection Plan

The Source Protection Plan contains the policies to protect local drinking water sources. The policies differ from region to region across the province and were decided upon by the Source Protection Committee with input from municipalities, provincial ministries, First Nations, business sectors, farmers, environmental interests, property owners and the public. The policies range from outright prohibition of activities that threaten drinking water to education and outreach policies to encourage voluntary good practices.

Source water is the raw water that we take from lakes, rivers or underground aquifers to supply people with drinking water. “Source Water Protection” or “Source Protection” means protecting these sources of drinking water from contamination and overuse. The focus is on prevention and this work is meant to complement the work of water treatment plant operators who ensure municipal drinking water is properly treated, tested and safely delivered to your tap.