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Permits to Take Water: What you need to know.

Janis PechingerPTTW CoordinatorMOE Southwestern RegionLondon, ON

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Today’s Presentation

• Purpose of Permit To Take Water (PTTW) Program

• Legislation• What’s new?• What could go wrong by

taking water?• Obligations• Application Process• Next Steps and Summary• Questions

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Purpose of PTTW Program

• The Ministry’s water quantity management policy is to ensure the fair sharing, conservation and sustainable use of the waters of the Province.

• Prevent water takings from causing unacceptable impacts to natural environment and existing water users.

• Most water takings >50,000 litres per day (L/d) require Permit

• Permit shows that the MOE is satisfied that there is a low risk for the taking to cause unacceptable impacts

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Legislation

• Ontario Water Resources Act (1961)– “No person shall take more than a total of 50,000 litres

in a day…without a Permit.”

• Ontario Regulation 387 (2004) – “Water Taking” (enforced as of Jan 1, 2005)– Includes new rules about monitoring, reporting, notice,

restrictions, MOE responsibilities, etc.

– New Permit to Take Water Manual, Guide and application form

– Application fees

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O.Reg 387/04 (Water Taking)O.Reg 387/04 (Water Taking)NEW

• Stronger language surrounding: – minimum stream flow– flow variability– habitat protection

• High & Medium Use watershed– Consumptive uses restricted

• Notification of Conservation Authorities (CA’s) and municipalities

• Annual reporting requirements• New classification system

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Monitoring & Reporting Requirements• Section 9 – Duties of a Permit Holder

– All Permitees shall collect & record daily water use using flow meter or other acceptable method

– Before March 31 in every year, all Permit Holders shall submit this info to the Director

• Phased Implementation• Phase 1

• Large & small municipal residential systems and MISA sector• Start recording on July 1/05, Submit data by March 31/06

• Phase 2• industrial, commercial and wildlife and conservation (Jan. 2006/Mar. 2007)

• Phase 3• All other drinking water systems, agriculture and all other Permit Holders

(Jan. 2007/Mar. 2008)

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Classification System

• Why Classify?

• Risk management based

• Allows both applicants and MOE to focus technical effort appropriate to complexity and risk associated with a proposed water taking.

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Classification SystemCat 1 •Renewal

•Small ponds

•Great Lakes < 1 Million L/d

•No study

•$750

Cat 2 •Pumping tests

•Great Lakes <19 Million L/d

•5% of 7Q20* from >3rd order streams, etc.

•No study, but a qualified person (QP) must submit a schedule

•$750

Cat 3 All others •Study required

•$3000

* 7 day period with the lowest flow over 20 years

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Administrative Fee Exemptions

• Agricultural takings are exempt from paying fees

• Effective September 1, 2007 wetland and wildlife conservation permits, and

• Grandfathered permits, existing takings prior to 1961

• Fee exempted takers still subject to various category requirements

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Principle #1 – The Ministry will use an ecosystem approach that considers both water takers’ reasonable needs for the

water and the natural functions of the ecosystem.

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Principle # 2 – Water takings are controlled to prevent unacceptable interference with other uses of water, wherever

possible, and to resolve such problems if they do occur

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Principle # 3 – The Ministry will employ adaptive management to better respond to evolving environmental

conditions

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Principle # 4 – The Ministry will consider the cumulative impacts of water takings

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Principle # 5 – The Ministry will incorporate risk management principles into the permit application/review

process

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Principle #6 – The Ministry will promote public and local agency involvement

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What could go wrong by taking water? • Water needs to be shared by natural environment and increasing

population

• Conflicts arise when a water taking is unsuitable for its environment

• A few examples:

– Eg.1 - 10 million LPD from L. Ontario

– Eg.2 – 100,000 LPD from well in a village

– Eg.3 – pumping from a stream during spring flood vs. summer low flow

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Neighbours

A B

Ground Water Interference - 1

(aquifer)

water table

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New High-Capacity Well

A B

Ground Water Interference-2

(aquifer)

water table

Neighbours

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Turn on Well A B

Ground Water Interference-3

Loss of supply

No Loss of supply(aquifer)

(original water table)

pumping water table/

“drawdown cone”

Neighbours

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Surface Water Interference-1

Reasonable withdrawal(no unacceptable impactto existing users or naturalenvironment)

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Surface Water Interference-2

Reasonable withdrawal(no unacceptable impactto existing users or naturalenvironment)

Pump 1

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Surface Water Interference-3

Established withdrawalcan’t be met, because ofinterference

Pump 1Pump 2

Unreasonable withdrawal(impacts existing users and natural environment)

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Obligations• New regulation requires all Permit Holders to

monitor how much water is taken on daily basis– Must be reasonable prospect that water will be used

in near future– Demonstration of water conservation measures

through Best Management Practices (BMP)

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Application Process (new, renew, amend)

• New application form

• Greater emphasis on pre-submission consultation

• Apply to EAAB office in Toronto

• New classification system

• Cat. 2 or 3 and will require Qualified Professional (QP)

• QP provides study to confirm that taking won’t cause unacceptable impacts

• Fee now required for application

($750-$3000)

• Conservation Schedule

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Average Annual Flow Map (taking may be refused)

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Summer Low Flow Map(taking may be excluded August 1 to September 11)

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What’s New?• Water Taking Charges for Industrial &

Commercial Water Users (O. Reg. 450/07) • Interactive Water Use Mapping Tool • Surface Water & Hydrogeological (Groundwater)

Studies Guidance Documents • Water Taking Reporting System• PTTW fee exemption for ‘conservation’ water

taking (wetland & wildlife habitat projects)

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Interactive Mapping Tool

• Access via the Ministry’s PTTW site

• Helps you determine the Tertiary Watershed and the Water Use Classification of a proposed Water Taking Permit location.

• Can also be used to prepare a map to be submitted with a Permit application.

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Summary

• Water use must be sustainable

• PTTW protects environment and users, including you

• New classification system and applications

• Monitoring and reporting

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Need Help?

You can contact the PTTW Coordinator’s for each Region by calling the following numbers:

• Eastern Region West Central Region613-549-4000 905-521-76401-800-267-0974 1-800-668-4557

• Central Region Southwestern Region416-326-6700 519-873-50001-800-810-8048 1-800-265-7672

• Northern Region807-475-12051-800-875-7772

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Questions?

http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/water/pttw.htm