The Clean Water Act, 2006 encompasses 19 drinking water source protection areas under the jurisdiction of Ontario’s thirty-six Conservation Authorities. Locally this area is known as the Sault Ste. Marie Region Source Protection Area. Because water flows across administrative boundaries, planning for the protection of these sources on a watershed basis is the best approach. The Sault Ste. Marie Region Source Protection Area includes the City of Sault Ste. Marie, Township of Prince and Sault North Planning Board.

         
Source Protection Areas & Regions Northern Ontario

Sault Ste. Marie Region Source Protection Area
   
                                                            

The Sault Ste. Marie Region Conservation Authority has been working on a Watershed Characterization Report as well as a Water Budget, which are two components of the assessment report to fulfill the requirements of the Clean Water Act, 2006. The Watershed Characterization is a description of the local watershed area. It will include information on natural characteristics, population distribution, water quality conditions and land use. The document is the foundation for local source water protection planning.

One portion of the Watershed Characterization is an inventory of water use.  The characterization will also identify vulnerable areas in the watershed. Vulnerable areas are those which are paticularly sensitive to impacts on the quality or quantity of drinking water sources. These areas include wellhead protection areas and intake protection zones. It will also identify activities that are known to potentially pose a threat to the quality of drinking water. A threat is any contaminant that has a potential to get into a drinking water source and impair water quality. A summary of issues and concerns will also be produced. An issue is a threat that currently interferes with or could interfere with the use or availability of a drinking water source. A concern refers to matter that has been raised informally, but is not supported by scientific or recorded evidence.

The second component required by the assessment report is the development of a Water Budget. The Water Budget will provide answers to basic questions like: 

Where is the water? 
How does the water move? 
What and where are the stresses on the water? 
What are the trends? 

Made possible through the support of the 
Government of Ontario