PitSense is a community of people organized to respond to proposals for further increases in the number of aggregate operations in Caledon.
We are opposed to the continuing 'Domino Effect' growth of open pit mines and quarries in the agricultural and rural residential areas of the Niagara Escarpment and UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.
" There are risks and costs
to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.”
... President John F. Kennedy
It is no longer adequate to simply mitigate environmental or social impact for economic benefit. A corporation has to prove it is leaving behind a visible and tangible improvement in the environment and in the social fabric of the community."
...Alan Kreisberg, President, Western North America LaFarge Construction
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THE ISSUE is WATER
The importance of water in matters of environmental protection, ecological sustainability, and species survival, including human survival cannot be overstated. Please use these pages and related links to gain a better understanding of what is at stake if we continue to gamble with this essential resource.
CLEAN WATER ACT and SOURCE WATER PROTECTION
Under the Clean Water Act, communities in Ontario are required to develop plans to protect both the quality and quantity of their municipal drinking water sources. The act can also benefit private well owners by identifying vulnerable aquifers and recharge areas. The act makes possible the requirement of the development of plans to protect aquifers from becoming contaminated or depleted.
A local municipality may pass a council resolution requiring that the source protection planning process include any existing or planned drinking water systems. Further, the legislation authorizes the Minister of the Environment to require that a source protection plan consider other drinking water systems such as private wells.
Ontario Environmental Protection Act guidelines state that Financial Assurance Agreements should apply where: "Permits to take water under section 34, OWRA where there is the expectation of associated adverse effects on:
a) Other known users of the same surface or ground water supply source;
b) The environment, such as low flows in streams, etc.;
c) Surrounding properties which take water from the same ground water supply ..."
The question is, has the MOE or the Municipality of Caledon passed the necessary resolutions? It is particularly important, in an area where open pit mine expansions are being considered, that such resolutions be given a high priority. Unfortunately the act appears to place a very low priority on individual private wells and property owners who depend on private wells for their water. The potential for damage to the aquifer which supplies private wells is a grave concern for property owners near the proposed McCormick pit on Heart Lake Road, as well as other areas nearby that are identified on the Schedule ‘L’ maps as resource and reserve areas for aggregate and quarry operations.
It is not too soon to get involved to make certain that the Town of Caledon and the MOE properly address these concerns. You may address your concerns to us at PitSense – pitsense@gmail.com - and we will make sure they are forwarded to the appropriate authorities, or you may communicate directly with the Town, the MOE, the Credit Valley Conservation Authority, and other agencies that deal with source water protection.
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