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Rural Resources groundwater |
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Sunday, 27 April 2008 |
 Drinking water fit for consumption
The workshop on Rural Settlement Strategy, held on March 24, 2007, identified some problems of land use and to establish working groups to propose new guidelines for the Official Plan 2008. Since then, these groups of residents of rural areas met to discuss these issues and to prepare discussion documents for members of the public who were invited to comment.This discussion document focuses on the shortcomings of the official plan on groundwater resources. The Working Group on groundwater resources, hereinafter called the "Working", was created to address the concerns expressed by residents of rural areas on the quantity and quality of their water future. The community is concerned by the fact that a reduction in the quality and quantity of their water may reduce the value of their residences, affect their quality of life and threaten the financial viability of their businesses. In addition to the possible effects of the declining quality of their water on their health, affected residents are concerned also be required to treat their water.
With the exception of some villages, residents and businesses in rural areas depend on private wells and septic systems. Although these residents agree the responsibility to manage their own water supply and sewage, they recognize the collective nature of groundwater resources and the risk that activities taking place outside of their property include a negative impact on their water supply. Furthermore, they agree that development should continue in the vicinity, they deem it necessary to hold a continuous monitoring on the status of the aquifer and assessed the risk of cumulative effect of the continuous development in relation to groundwater resources.
Given that the City has already taken the responsibilities of drinking water and land use at the municipal level, residents in rural areas want decisions on urban planning, zoning or planning the result of an assessment of potential impacts on users of groundwater in both the short and long term. These residents perceive the need to establish an office responsible for managing groundwater, given powers of enforcement of laws to that effect.
The "Task Force" would like to clarify that he is not opposed to development, but it wishes to reduce the risk of adverse effects on the collective resources of groundwater as a result of the extent of the development. In terms of urban planning, when it comes to groundwater, it would be appropriate not to fragment the rural villages, outdoor villages, residences, commercial corridors or farms. The "Task Force" is of the opinion that it is incumbent upon the City to ensure that balance the needs of users across compared to groundwater resources, to ensure the sustainability of these resources on its land.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 03 July 2008 )
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