Is the provincial government going to fund source protection planning?
Neither local taxpayers nor industry will bear the burden of source water protection planning costs – the province has committed to providing the resources to fund source protection planning costs, including groundwater studies, technical assessments and plan development. The government committed approximately $120 million from 2004 to 2008 to support source protection planning. This includes funding to enable municipalities and conservation authorities to undertake technical studies to support their efforts to protect drinking water sources. The act also introduced a new financial assistance program, the Ontario Drinking Water Stewardship Program, for farmers and small rural businesses for activities that reduce threats to drinking water. A panel that included agricultural, municipal and conservation authority representatives provided advice on how the drinking water stewardship program should be administered and allocated. Initially, $7 million is available in 2007/2008 for early act
