Drinking Water Source Protection

The Clean Water Act, 2006 is part of the multi-barrier approach to ensure clean, safe and sustainable drinking water for Ontarians, by protecting sources of municipal drinking water such as lakes, rivers, and well water. Under this legislation, the Drinking Water Source Protection Program was established by the Government of Ontario. This resulted in the development of science-based assessment reports and local source protection plans by multi-stakeholder source protection committees, supported by Source Protection Authorities. 

The Saugeen, Grey Sauble, Northern Bruce Peninsula source protection region contains 38 municipal residential drinking water systems; 29 systems draw water from a groundwater source (an aquifer), 8 systems draw water from a surface water source, and 1 system combines groundwater and surface water. 

The Northern Bruce Peninsula Source Protection Area (NBP SPA) is comprised of the area that falls under the jurisdiction of the Municipality, with the exception of some small areas along the bottom portion of the municipality that are covered under the Grey Sauble SPA. There are extensive rural areas and cottage developments on the Lake Huron and Georgian Bay shorelines and some inland lakes. Within the SPA, there are two drinking water systems, these are the Tobermory Community Centre/Fire Hall/Municipal Concession Stand, and the Lion's Head Water Treatment Plant. 

The Saugeen Valley and Grey Sauble Conservation Authorities along with the Municipality have partnered together to work with a Source Protection Committee to coordinate the development of Source Protection Plans for our watersheds.