Source Water Protection

Source water is untreated water from streams, lakes, rivers or underground aquifers that people use for potable water supply. Protecting source water is a team effort, a collaboration between Source Protection Authorities, municipalities, the province, and community members.

What is source water protection?

Source water protection protects Ontario's municipal drinking water from overuse and contamination, and complements water treatment and monitoring by reducing risks to water supplies in the first place.

Threats to source water

The provincial government identified 21 significant threats to our drinking water, from waste management and sewage to road salt and pesticides. The level of risk they pose depends on the nature of the threat and its location.

Vulnerable areas

There are four categories of areas defined by the Clean Water Act as in need of protection. These “vulnerable areas” include:

Wellhead Protection Areas
Intake Protection Zones
Significant Groundwater Recharge Areas
Highly Vulnerable Aquifers

Learn more about each vulnerable area.

How to help protect source water

Everyone needs to do their part to protect source water. Here are a few ways you can help:

Practice water conservation
Maintain your septic system and well
Store, handle and dispose of hazardous materials and harsh cleaning products with care
Maintain natural vegetation to reduce run-off of pollutants into the water

Source water protection authorities

Springwater belongs to the South Georgian Bay Lake Simcoe Source Protection Region—one of 19 regions throughout Ontario. There are three source protection authorities within this region:

These protection authorities integrate source water planning across the watershed and in municipal watershed plans.

Source water protection plan

The Source Protection Plan for the South Georgian Bay Lake Simcoe Source Protection Region sets out actions to address contamination threats to the lakes, rivers and underground aquifers that supply water to the municipal drinking water systems in our area.