[All] Fw: Waterloo Ontario: Source water at risk

[Louisette Lanteigne]

FYI

--- On Wed, 3/2/11, Louisette Lanteigne <butterflybluelu at rogers.com> wrote:

From: Louisette Lanteigne <butterflybluelu at rogers.com>
Subject: Waterloo Ontario: Source water at risk
To: Minister at ec.gc.ca, ljeffrey.mpp.co at liberal.ola.org, jerry.ouellette at pc.ola.org, Paradis.C at parl.gc.ca, Braid.P at parl.gc.ca, Goodyear.G at parl.gc.ca, Albrecht.H at parl.gc.ca, Duceppe.G at parl.gc.ca, DionS at parl.gc.ca
Date: Wednesday, March 2, 2011, 6:13 PM

Dear Hon. Ministers

Below is a correspondence I've shared with provincial and federal officials. Please review because the source water for Waterloo Ontario's municipal water supply is at immediate risk. 21 Ontario Municipal Board processes are currently underway regarding the fate of the our municipal water supply and this issue could have enormous economic and environmental consequences that could result in huge losses for our community, province and nation. We can't afford to allow this vital water system to collapse. Please review and help to secure a Waterloo Moraine Protection Act and a National Water Policy. 

Thank you kindly for your time.

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

--- On Wed, 3/2/11, Louisette Lanteigne <butterflybluelu at rogers.com>
 wrote:

From: Louisette Lanteigne <butterflybluelu at rogers.com>
Subject: 21 appeals launched against Waterloo Region's ROP
To: Harper.S at parl.gc.ca, Ignatieff.M at parl.gc.ca, Layton.J at parl.gc.ca, "Dwayne (MAH)Evans" <Dwayne.Evans at ontario.ca>, Sharon.Bailey at ontario.ca, elizabeth.witmerco at pc.ola.org, jwilkinson.mpp.co at liberal.ola.org, commissioner at eco.on.ca, Scarpaleggia.F at parl.gc.ca, tim.ryall at ontario.ca, hhampton-qp at ndp.on.ca
Cc: amberc at ontarionature.org, "Theresa McClenaghan" <theresa at cela.ca>, "Maureen Carter-Whitney" <maureen at cielap.org>, "Mark Calzavara" <mcalzavara at canadians.org>, info at greenbelt.ca, david at donnellylaw.ca
Date: Wednesday, March 2, 2011, 5:55 PM

Dear Hon. Prime Minister and Hon. Ministers.


The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) has received twenty-one
appeals of the Region of Waterloo’s Regional Official Plan (ROP),
including one by the Region itself.   The ROP was approved by Regional Council in
June 2009 but needed approval from the provincial government.  The appeals
were filed after the province approved the Council-adopted ROP with several modifications
on December 22, 2010.  While many of the appeals
focus on specific lands excluded from future development areas, some
question the Region’s overall approach to directing where growth may occur.  The Region’s own appeal
seeks to strengthen protections for environmentally-sensitive lands and source water areas as they
pertain to aggregate extraction (gravel pits). 

Waterloo Region is currently the largest region dependent on ground source drinking water but our water supply is at immediate risk. The primary recharge zones gather up to 80% of our municipality's water supply and acts as a source for both the Grand River and Lake Erie. The Grand provides the primary water supply for downstream communities including Brantford and Six Nations and the Grand River supports the same gross national revenue as the province of Nova Scotia according to the Grand River Conservation Authority. The water gathered in Waterloo Region helps to support the second largest food belt in Ontario. Unfortunately, significant portions of the primary recharge have been designated for aggregate extraction. To view maps illustrating the urgency of this issue please visit the following website:  http://waterloomoraineact.com/aggregate.htm 

To view the 23 page PDF report produced by the Region of Waterloo regarding these appeals, see the attachments. 

Please help support the establishment of a Waterloo Moraine Protection Act as well as a National Water Strategy and I beg you to place a moratorium on aggregate extraction over top the primary recharge areas until we can reasonably secure that the function of the aggregates will be maintained in order to protect and preserve our municipal water supplies for the long term. 

Thank you kindly for your time.

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


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20110302/30564d75/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: P-11-013.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 2113877 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20110302/30564d75/attachment.pdf>