Ontario Groundwater Debate Lacking Scientific Data
Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner says that the province has so far been acting blindly in the allocation of water-taking permits, with potentially dire consequences for Ontario’s groundwater supply.
“We’re making decisions with our eyes closed,” said Commissioner Dianne Saxe. “We don’t have enough information yet we’re allowing millions of litres to be taken every day out of the ground.”
The comments come in light of Premier Kathleen Wynne’s recently imposed two-year moratorium on new bottled water permits, itself a product of concerns over Nestle corporation’s application for a bottling permit for a well in Wellington county near Guelph. Public outcry over the seemingly small sum the province has been charging ($3.71 for every one million litres) to bottling companies to extract the resource …
