What Is Drinking Water Source Protection?

Source water is the raw water found in the natural environment, and includes the water in streams, rivers, lakes and groundwater. Source water protection, or source protection, is the safeguarding of these water resources from chemical and pathogen contamination and unsustainable withdrawal by humans.

In practice, source protection efforts tend to focus on safeguarding sources of drinking water, although the ecosystems we take our drinking water from are understandably left better protected where source protection is practised.

Several provincial governments across Canada, including Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, are making significant changes to their water management laws and policies. These changes reflect a new understanding of how vulnerable many of our water sources are to contamination and overuse.

All of these new policies include to some extent:

• a recognition of the need to protect drinking water at its source, not just at the tap;
• more stringent monitoring of water quality and quantity;
• the development of management areas based on watershed boundaries; and
• an increased role for the public in decisions affecting water resources.