NOTICE OF PROPOSAL FOR REGULATION

© Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2006

November 7, 2006: This notice was originally published on October 30, 2006. It has been republished to include the French version of the notice. The balance of this notice has not been altered.

Proposal Title:

Prescribed Dates Regulation for the Municipal Drinking Water Licence Program

Short Description:

THE MUNICIPAL DRINKING WATER LICENCE PROGRAM

The development and implementation of the Municipal Drinking Water Licence Program is based on 14 recommendations from Justice O’Connor’s Part II Walkerton Report. Justice O’Connor recommended that the Ministry require all Owners of municipal drinking-water systems to obtain a licence to operate their systems. Justice O’Connor also recommended that the Owners and Operating Authorities of these systems implement a quality management approach to operations and management.

The Ministry is developing the Municipal Drinking Water Licence Program, which, when fully implemented, will replace the existing Certificates of Approval process. In order to obtain a Licence, the Owner of a municipal residential drinking-water system must have the following elements in place:

• A Permit to Take Water;
• An approved Financial Plan (if required);
• A Drinking Water Works Permit;
• An Operational Plan; and
• An Accredited Operating Authority.

Owners and Operating Authorities will be required to develop a quality management system (QMS) based on the requirements of the Drinking Water Quality Management Standard (DWQMS). The Operational Plan will document the QMS and must be accepted by the Ministry. Requirements for the submission of Operational Plans are described in the Director’s Direction. The Drinking Water Quality Management Standard Guidance Document provides additional information about the content requirements for Operational Plans. The date by which an Owner must submit an Operational Plan to the Ministry is outlined in the Prescribed Dates Regulation. In order to become accredited, an Operating Authority must establish and maintain a QMS that meets the requirements of the DWQMS. Operating Authorities will be accredited by a third-party Accreditation Body.

The requirements for Drinking Water Works Permits, which will replace the current Certificate of Approval, and Financial Plans will be outlined in future EBR postings. The Permit to Take Water Program is already in place.

Sections of the Safe Drinking Water Act, 2002 related to Licensing have not yet been proclaimed. It is anticipated that proclamation will take place in the middle of 2007.

This posting deals with the proposed Prescribed Dates Regulation.

PRESCRIBED DATES REGULATION

The draft Prescribed Dates Regulation establishes the dates by which an Owner must submit the following items to the Ministry:
• An application for a Municipal Drinking Water Licence;
• An application for a Drinking Water Works Permit; and
• An Operational Plan that meets the requirements of the DWQMS.
The requirement for submitting applications and operational plans will be phased in over a period of 18 months starting on July 1, 2008 and ending on December 1, 2009. The draft Regulation contains 18 schedules listing owners/municipalities in alphabetical order in each schedule. Each schedule will have a corresponding submission date over the 18 month submission period (i.e., one schedule per month). The first two schedules list the largest owners/municipalities in Ontario, by population. The following schedules list the remaining owners/municipalities, moving from Southern Ontario – West to East – through to Northern Ontario.

A summary of the draft Prescribed Dates Regulation and a draft list of owners/municipalities and their submission dates are available through the link below.

Purpose of the Proposal:

The Ontario Ministry of the Environment is planning to implement a new approvals program - Municipal Drinking Water Licence - to replace the existing Certificates of Approval process for municipal residential drinking-water systems. The Ministry has prepared a draft Prescribed Dates Regulation for the Municipal Drinking Water Licence Program. This draft regulation will outline the date by which the Owner of a municipal residential drinking-water system must submit to the Ministry the following:
- An application for a Municipal Drinking Water Licence;
- An application for a Drinking Water Works Permit; and
- An Operational Plan that meets the requirements of the Drinking Water Quality Management Standard (DWQMS)
- The requirements for the submission of the Operational Plan is outlined in the current Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) Policy Proposal posting entitled Director’s Direction for Operational Plan Submission.

This EBR posting should also be reviewed in conjunction with the EBR Policy Proposals for the Accreditation Protocol for Operating Authorities, Director’s Direction and Drinking Water Quality Management Standard Guidance Material, and the EBR Policy Decision for the Drinking Water Quality Management Standard (see links below).

Other Public Consultation:

The Ministry has also consulted extensively with various stakeholder groups such as the Ontario Water Works Association (OWWA), the Ontario Municipal Water Association (OMWA), the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), the Association for Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasures of Ontario (AMCTO), the Ontario Municipal Administrators’ Association (OMAA), and the Municipal Engineers Association (MEA). Ministry staff have presented information on the implementation of the Licence Program across all municipal residential drinking-water systems and comments from these consultations have been incorporated into the proposed Prescribed Dates Regulation.

The Ministry is also working closely with a group of municipal stakeholders, the Licensing Working Group. The mandate of this working group is to provide feedback and advice to staff during the development of the various Licensing components. This working group includes representatives from the communities of Dryden, Machin, Sudbury, North Middlesex, Toronto, Durham, London, Waterloo, Napanee and Peterborough.

Comments should be directed to the following Contact Person:

Indra Prashad, Licensing Manager
Safe Drinking Water Branch
2 St Clair Ave W, 19th floor
Toronto, Ontario, M4V 1L5
PHONE: (416) 314-6437  FAX: (416) 314-1037

Additional material in support of this notice is available by clicking the following hyperlink(s):

http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/env_reg/er/documents/2006/Draft Prescribed Dates Regulation - October 2006.pdf
http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/env_reg/er/documents/2006/Draft Director's Direction - October 2006.pdf
http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/env_reg/er/documents/2006/Drinking Water Quality Management Standard - October 2006.pdf
http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/env_reg/er/documents/2006/Draft Guidance Document for Implementation of the DWQMS - October 2006.pdf
http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/env_reg/er/documents/2006/Draft Accreditation Protocol - October 2006.pdf
http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/env_reg/er/documents/2006/Licensing Backgrounder - October 2006.pdf

1. are submitted in writing;
2. reference the EBR Registry number; and
3. are received by the Contact person within the specified comment period.

Please Note: No acknowledgment or individual response will be provided to those who comment. All comments and submissions received will become part of the public record.