Here is what the WWW are working on these days…

We are closely monitoring the developments regarding increased water-taking at the River Valley Developments Inc. (the Dolime site) just west of Guelph. Their proposal is to increase the tonnes of aggregate removed. If the MNR (Ministry of Natural Resources) approves the increase in tonnage, there will be a renewed need to increase the water taking (there have been two previous notices on the environmental registry about the permit to take water which have been withdrawn). An increase in the water taking to get to the bedrock for quarrying is a significant threat to Guelph’s drinking water supply. (Environmental registry notice #010-1086). We’ll keep you posted.

Protecting the Paris-Galt Moraine. We’ve been pleased to see that a dialogue has begun involving our municipal and provincial governments, to develop a plan to ensure some environmental protection for this beautiful and sensitive area (our area!). This is the source of our water supply, and we’ll be at the table watching out for that!

We will be partnering with the Polaris Institute on a conference in the late fall on water issues. Again, we’ll keep you posted.

We are also working towards an educational outreach program in Wellington County schools for the coming year. Watch for it!

Later this month government and corporate leaders from Canada,the U.S. and Mexico meet near Ottawa to further the SPP (Security and Prosperity Partnership) of North America. This agreement, if ratified, would essentially mean that our country could be giving up our sovereign rights to regulate access to and use of our resources, including water. This is of particular concern since we have no protective national water policy. The lack of transparency around these closed-door SPP meetings has meant that there has been no public debate on this proposed international agreement for Canada to provide water for the entire continent. As you know, removing water from our watershed leaves us very vulnerable. The Council of Canadians has made objections to the SPP a major focus this year, and we will be supporting them in raising awareness about how this agreement will affect us. There is some valuable information about this at the CoC website.

As well, it is important to understand that our pesticide regulations for food are already being changed and permitted levels raised, to harmonize with the other two countries. Canada’s protective regulations were a “trade irritant”. This means we will have more pesticides on fruits and vegetables now, and thus, in our water-table. (TILMA is another ‘harmonization plan’ being pushed by the same executives and bureaucrats. It is an inter-provincial plan to reduce regulations and the right of municipalities to set their own protective policies concerning the environment and resources, among other things. TILMA could also affect our water sovereignty and will facilitate movement to the SPP harmonization.) www.canadians.org has information on both the SPP and TILMA.