RPLC Policy Brief – Ontario’s Clean Water Act and its implications for rural serviced municipalities.

PhD candidate Sarah Minnes (Memorial University) has recently completed a RPLC supported brief exploring Ontario’s Clean Water Act and its implications for rural serviced municipalities.
The main recommendations from this research are:

• Realistic fiscal frameworks should be created between provincial and municipal bodies to sustain source water protection efforts (including up to date data, further source protection plan updates, expert human resources at the municipal and/or conservation authority levels, ongoing monitoring and evaluation, data sharing networks, and public outreach efforts). Regional collaborations could offer value in this matter.
• Further work needs to be done to create better ways to specifically engage First Nations in the process,
• Fostering better public engagement in the source water protection process is needed. Help from non-governmental organizations in engagement efforts could aid in diversifying engagement techniques and participating audiences.
• Further research needs to be done on appropriate ways to include other systems (e.g. private drinking water well clusters) into the Clean Water Act.
• It was suggested by research participants that if other rural areas in Canada were to consider a process similar to that under the Clean Water Act, they should carefully consider what aspects would make sense for their local context.

Both the brief and the related published article are now available on the RPLC – Natural Resource Development Team webpage: http://rplcarchive.ca/about-the-network/themes/natural-resource-development/
The brief is also attached for your interest, and the direct link for the article is: http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/9/7/538/pdf