What we heard

We received comments from Indigenous communities as well as from a wide range of interested stakeholders, including members of the public, conservation authorities, municipalities, environmental non-governmental organizations and industry groups.

The majority of comments supported the proposal to extend the moratorium for one year to allow the Ministry to complete its work reviewing the Ministry’s water taking framework. Comments showed support for:

the government advancing the understanding of water resources in the province

applying scientific knowledge to develop evidence-based enhancements to provincial water management policies

protecting water resources for future generations from the impacts of growth pressures and climate change.

Some comments believed that the moratorium should be made permanent.

While the majority of comments supported the extension of the moratorium, a few comments were not supportive. Some questioned why the water bottling industry was being treated differently from other water takers.

Many comments expressed concern with plastic waste generated from the water bottling industry.

We also received feedback from the public through an online survey that measured support for, or opposition to, the proposal. We received:

17,403 responses to the online survey question

96% of responses indicating support for the proposal

4% of responses indicating opposition to the proposal

Response

We considered all of the comments received during the Environmental Registry posting in the final decision. We have made a decision to proceed with the extension of the moratorium to January 1, 2020, consistent with the proposal.

During the moratorium extension we intend to complete our review of the province’s water taking policies, programs and science tools to ensure that vital water resources are adequately protected and sustainably used.

We will consider the results of the review and engage Indigenous communities, stakeholders and the public on any potential enhancements to our water taking rules before they are put in place.