[All] Note to Premier McGuinty

[Louisette Lanteigne]

FYI

--- On Tue, 7/6/10, Louisette Lanteigne <butterflybluelu at rogers.com> wrote:

From: Louisette Lanteigne <butterflybluelu at rogers.com>
Subject: SAROS report: The first of 6 supporting papers now on iine
To: dmcguinty.mpp.co at liberal.ola.org
Date: Tuesday, July 6, 2010, 10:39 AM

Dear Hon. Premier

The SAROS report (State of Aggregate Resouces in Ontario Study) was 
based on 6 papers. The comprehensive summery was published on the MNR website but not the 
six individual papers that this document was based on so using Freedom of Information, I secured their 
release on line. 

This is the first of the six papers, now on 
line is Aggregate Consumption and Demand in Ontario. The link of the 
page is here:

http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/stdprodconsume/groups/lr/@mnr/@aggregates/documents/document/stdprod_067712.pdf

If 
you have problems viewing the link you can find this same document by 
doing a GOOGLE search 
for the term: 

Saros

 Paper 1, Aggregate Consumption and Demand.

If you do a 
Rogers Yahoo search for the term SAROS Paper 1 - Aggregate Consumption 
and Demand you will not find 
it.


(
 I
 tried unsuccessfully to facebook and 
twitter the link to this report only to find out it may be designed to not function if a direct link is 
provided.)

In



 my view this report clearly undervalues the following:

-water 
conservation to 
offset 
need for "new" supplies. (this report is pipeline oriented)
-the 
value of aggregates for the natural capital function they serve ie: 
hydrogeology
-the value of aggregates for farmlands, top soil 
and agricultural water resources
-the importance of maintaining 
natural 
topography to maintain flow and flow rates to surface and groundwater 
resources
-groundwater impacts, 
contamination risks, disturbances in cross jurisdictional flow and flow 
rates etc.
-protection of biodiversity, fisheries etc.
-protection
 of the source for the Great Lakes

The absence of such 
information included in the above list poses a direct risk to municipal 
water supplies if we persue aggregate interests without regard to these 
variables.

I have shared this document with members of 
the Lake Erie Source Water Protection Committee for their consideration 
as well as the Grand 
River Conservation Authority's board of directors, Regional Staff as well as 
various ministries for their consideration. (MNR, MOE, Min. of Agriculture and MMAH).

We cannot separate the 
function of aggregates to water tables. The risk is far too high in terms of protecting our current economic systems, public health, long term food and water security and our agricultural industries. We cannot let this document color the long term view if it does not reflect a balanced approach. 

The root problem is the MNR is both the promoter and protector of our Natural Capital resources and we need to secure objectivity in order to reasonably mitigate risk and assure compliance to fulfill the goals and objectives as outlined in our Provincial Planning Laws. 

As it is currently structured, each ministry works in isolation to one another and with this type of fracturing of services and responsibilities, we're missing the big picture risks. We can't allow the actions of one ministry to circumvent the goals and objectives of another and when it comes to this particular report, the implications are enormous. Please make sure there is a
 proper ministry review of the SAROS report and all six supporting documents to be reviewed by VARIOUS ministries for their input before the MNR endorses this document in full. Unless that is done, our water supplies and communities dependent on it are at immediate risk.

Please
 note the MOE was not part of the discussion regarding the formation of 
this report.

Thank you kindly for your time.

Louisette 
Lanteigne
700 Star Flower Ave.
Waterloo Ontario
N2V 2L2
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