Source Water Protection
Source Water Protection or ‘Source Protection’ means to protect the raw water from contamination and overuse that we take from lakes, rivers, or underground aquifers to supply people with drinking water.
The Province of Ontario passed the Clean Water Act, 2006 into legislation to safeguard municipal sources of drinking water. The Act requires municipalities, businesses, and residents to work together to create local Source Protection Plans.
The Clean Water Act, 2006 encompasses 19 drinking water source protection areas and regions under the jurisdiction of Ontario’s thirty-six Conservation Authorities. The focus of the legislation is the preparation of locally developed, science-based assessment reports and source protection plans.
View more information about Ontario's Source Protection program.
View the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks interactive Source Protection Information Atlas.
Source water protection is everyone’s responsibility. This site provides information and resources to help you understand the part we all have to play in protecting our drinking water.
You can learn more about source water protection by viewing this short video from Conservation Ontario: