Policy Text:
To protect drinking water sources from potential spills along highways, shipping lanes and railways, the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks shall:
a) in consultation with the Spills Action Centre and other appropriate bodies, update notification protocols for spills to ensure direct notification of all potentially affected water treatment plant operators and appropriate communication to the public and media;
b) in consultation with the Spills Action Centre and the affected municipalities, review the notification protocol for significant threat activities and adjust the protocols as required to ensure that water plant operators are notified appropriately for a given magnitude of spill;
c) ensure that information is communicated to all responsible parties (e.g., the originators of the spill, emergency response/clean-up personnel, medical officer of health, municipal water system owner and water system operating authority) who are responding to the spill;
d) in consultation with the owners and operators of municipal drinking water systems, require that a Contingency Plan is developed, reviewed and/or updated under the Drinking Water Quality Management Standard to ensure that significant drinking water threats identified in the Assessment Report are included and amend the municipal drinking water license, as required;
e) in consultation with the Office of the Fire Marshal and Emergency Management and other appropriate bodies, ensure that testing of the Contingency Plan is carried out within 3 years from the date the Source Protection Plan takes effect, followed by regular (frequency and priority to be determined in consultation) emergency response preparedness exercises to address the significant threats identified; and
f) in consultation with appropriate bodies, promote spill prevention and share information about source protection with the public.
Timeline:
T-15: The policy shall be considered within 2 years from the date the Source Protection Plan takes effect.