Ontarios Permit to Take Water Program

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• Ontarios Permit to Take Water Program

Presented to Walter Duncan Gordon
Foundation Munk Centre Program on Water
Issues January 20, 2006
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Legislation

• Ontario Water Resources Act
• Water Taking and Transfer Regulation (O. Reg.
  387/04)
• Permit to Take Water (PTTW) Manual

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General Exemptions

• Taking lt 50,000 L per day
• Works installed before March 29, 1961
• Ordinary household purposes
• Direct watering of livestock or poultry
• Firefighting

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Permit Classification

• Category 1
• Low risk
• Renewals of existing permits
• No scientific assessment

• Category 2 3
• Higher risk
• Most new and increased takings
• Evaluation by qualified person

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Permit Approval

• Director must consider
• Need to protect natural functions of the
  ecosystem
• Water availability
• Water use
• Other issues

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Permit Approval

• Natural Functions of the Ecosystem
• Minimum stream flow
• Habitat dependant on flow or water level
• Ground and surface water inter-relationships

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Permit Approval

• Water Availability
• Water balance
• Existing planned uses
• Location in high use or medium use watersheds

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Permit Approval

• Water Use
• Conservation measures in place
• Purpose of the water taking

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High Use Watersheds

• Applications to remove water from the watershed
  shall be refused if theyre for
• Beverage manufacturing
• Fruit vegetable canning or pickling
• Ready-mix concrete manufacturing
• Aggregate processing (if forming a slurry)
• Product manufacturing (if gt50,000 L per day)

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High Use Watersheds

• Unless..
• An existing permit is renewed
• Applicant is a municipality
• Water is taken directly from the Great Lakes or
  connecting channels
• Purpose is the manufacture of pulp and paper or
  ethanol

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Water Conservation

• Water Conservation Schedule
• Required with all new applications
• Must include
• All water conservation best management practices,
  and how/when they will be applied
• Sources of information used to develop BMPs

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Cumulative Impacts

• Director can initiate an assessment of a group of
  takings on water balance and sustainability when
• Low water conditions have been declared in 2 of
  the past 5 years
• Significant decline in hydraulic head has
  occurred over the past 5 years
• Watershed is high or medium use
• There is a high density of permitted takings in a
  given area

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Reporting

• Every permit holder will be required to record
  and report the actual volume of water taken daily
• This requirement is being phased in over 3 years