EXPLANATORY NOTE
This Explanatory Note was written as a reader’s aid to Bill 195 and does not form part of the law. Bill 195 has been enacted as Chapter 32 of the Statutes of Ontario, 2002.
The Act recognizes that the people of Ontario are entitled to expect their drinking water to be safe and provides for the protection of human health and the prevention of drinking-water health hazards through the control and regulation of drinking-water systems and drinking-water testing. The Act identifies the Minister of the Environment as the Minister responsible for overseeing the regulation of safe drinking water in Ontario and for the administration of the Act. The Minister shall prepare and lay before the Assembly an annual drinking-water report.
The Minister shall establish an advisory council, to be known as the Advisory Council on Drinking-water Quality and Testing Standards, to consider issues and provide recommendations relating to standards for drinking-water quality and testing. The Act requires the Minister to appoint a Chief Inspector who will be responsible for providing advice and implementing operational policies related to inspections, the development of inspection training programs and monitoring the efficacy of inspections conducted under the Act.
The drinking-water quality standards prescribed under the Act are applied where there is a requirement in any Act, regulation, legislative instrument or municipal by-law that water be “potable”. Owners and operating authorities of municipal drinking-water systems and regulated non-municipal drinking-water systems (classes of non-municipal drinking-water systems to be prescribed in the regulations) must supply water to users that satisfies quality standards for drinking water under the Act. The Act imposes duties on owners, operating authorities and operators of drinking-water systems, related to the operation, management and maintenance of drinking-water systems. There is a duty on owners, operating authorities and laboratories to immediately report adverse water test results from municipal and regulated non-municipal drinking-water systems to the Ministry and the local medical officer of health. The Act imposes a standard of care on those who have oversight over municipal drinking-water systems.
The Minister may enter into agreements with accreditation bodies to provide programs for the accreditation and audit of operating authorities for drinking-water systems and for the accreditation and audit of laboratories for the conduct of drinking-water tests. Accreditation bodies may also be designated or established by regulation. An accredited operating authority must be in charge of a municipal drinking-water system. Five years after Part VI (Non-municipal drinking-water systems) comes into force, the Minister may make regulations requiring accredited operating authorities to be in charge of regulated non-municipal drinking-water systems. Operational plans for every municipal drinking water system must be reviewed and approved under the Act.
The Act establishes a system of permits, licences and approvals for municipal drinking-water systems, regulated non-municipal drinking-water systems and laboratories at which drinking-water tests are conducted.
A municipal drinking-water licence is required for every municipal drinking-water system in Ontario. In order to obtain a licence, the owner must have a drinking-water works permit, an operational plan and, in certain cases, a financial plan and a permit-to-take-water under the Ontario Water Resources Act. The Act provides that the licence and permit for a municipal drinking water system may be issued with conditions. There is authority to amend conditions and to suspend and revoke permits and licences in certain circumstances. If a municipality transfers the ownership of a drinking-water system to a person other than another municipality, the municipality must ensure that the transfer agreement includes the prescribed requirements. After the transfer, the system is deemed to continue to be a municipal system for the purposes of the Act.
Regulated non-municipal drinking-water systems will be required to meet certain standards prescribed by regulation. Certain systems will require an approval under the Act. An approval previously issued under section 52 of the Ontario Water Resources Act, while it remains in force, is deemed to be an approval under the new Act for a regulated non-municipal drinking water system. If a person intends to construct a drinking water system that serves a major residential development (defined as six or more private residences), or to extend the system so that it will serve a major residential development, the person must obtain a municipal consent to do so. Municipalities may require financial assurances as a condition of the consent.
All laboratories that conduct drinking-water tests must be licensed under the Act. In order to obtain a licence, laboratories must generally be accredited for the tests they conduct. Certain exceptions apply to accommodate geographic constraints, or if the accreditation body does not have an accredited method for a particular test. The Act provides that a licence may be issued with conditions. There is authority to amend conditions and to suspend and revoke licences for failure to comply with the requirements of the Act. The Director who issues the licence may issue a direction requiring one or more laboratories to conduct a test in accordance with a specified method.
The Act also authorizes inspections of drinking-water systems and laboratories. A follow-up inspection is required within one year if a deficiency is found during an inspection of a drinking-water system. Provincial officers and directors may issue orders requiring compliance with the Act or to address drinking-water health hazards. The Act also authorizes the Director to appoint a person to take control of drinking-water systems in the case of emergency or to appoint an interim operating authority if the owner of a drinking-water system has been ordered to correct a deficiency and has failed to do so. The Act also requires the Director to give the medical officer of health notice of certain decisions made under the Act. The Minister may also issue an order requiring specified things to be done if the Minister is of the opinion that an imminent drinking-water health hazard exists or there is a threat to human health.
The Act makes a complementary amendment to the Health Protection and Promotion Act. If the position of medical officer of health of a board of health becomes vacant, the board of health and the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, acting in concert, are required to work expeditiously towards filling the position with a full-time medical officer of health.