Ontario passes first wave of streamlining for the Clean Water Act

Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks is proposing several legislative and regulatory changes aimed at streamlining how drinking water sources are protected under the Clean Water Act, 2006.

The amendments stem from the Building a More Competitive Economy Act, 2025 (Bill 56), which passed the Legislature on November 4, including some amendments to the Clean Water Act, 2006, while other amendments remain under consultation until December.

The proposals include amendments to the General Regulation (O. Reg. 287/07), updates to Municipal Residential Drinking Water Systems in Source Protection Areas (O. Reg. 205/18) under the Safe Drinking Water Act, 2002, and the creation of a new Minister’s regulation to improve oversight and consistency in managing risks to drinking water.

Officials say the updates would reduce duplication, shorten approval timelines, and give municipalities greater flexibility to bring new wells and intakes online — particularly for growing communities — while maintaining safeguards that protect water quality.

MPP Peter Tabuns, an NDP critic for the environment at Queen’s Park, took issue with Bill 56 in one of the final debates before its passage, suggesting that the province didn’t act on recommendations from a spring audit that raised concerns about the oversight of non-municipal drinking water systems in Ontario. That audit revealed gaps in inspections, enforcement, and testing that could pose health risks.

“I note that the Auditor General at no point said, ‘Hey, you’ve got too much duplication in the system. This is holding up development. This bill, this legislation, which may be good for protecting human health, seems to be making it difficult to build new homes.’ No, that is not what was said by the Auditor General. So I have to ask, where is this coming from?” Tabuns asked the Legislature on October 22. “The changes are being promoted as simply technical, that they’re being used to balance the need for development against the need for safety, with an assurance from the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks that, in fact, safety will be protected,” he added.

Among the proposed changes include:

• Allowing local source protection authorities to approve certain routine or administrative plan updates.
• Setting clearer timelines for provincial approval of plan amendments.
• Simplifying consultation requirements to ensure relevant stakeholders are engaged without unnecessary delays.
• Modernizing notification practices, such as replacing mandatory newspaper ads with digital consultation.
• Giving the Safe Drinking Water Act director discretion to waive prohibitions that currently prevent new water sources from supplying users until plan amendments are finalized.
• Introducing standardized wording and reporting for policies affecting “prescribed instruments” such as permits, licences, and approvals that govern activities near drinking water sources.

The government says the changes are intended to balance environmental protection with development needs by making the process of updating source protection plans more efficient.

Ontario has 38 source protection areas, each with plans designed to prevent contamination of municipal drinking water sources. The ministry says the proposed reforms could cut plan approval times by up to a year and reduce administrative costs for municipalities, developers, and source protection authorities.

Andrea Khanjin, Minister of Red Tape Reduction, told the Legislature that they are often fielding complaints that “even routine amendments” to local source water protection plans take too long.

“When a new municipal well or intake is added, it can take far too long to approve,” Khanjin stated in the October 29 debate. “These processes can stretch over many months and often involve duplicative reviews that don’t actually add to public safety. But through Bill 56, our government is taking practical steps to modernize the processes while maintaining Ontario’s rigorous, science-based protections for clean water, and those amendments to the Clean Water Act do just that: strengthen and protect our water.”

Public feedback on the proposals can be submitted through the Environmental Registry of Ontario.

Last week, the Ontario government also announced plans to establish a new Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency (OPCA) and consolidate the province’s conservation authorities with the goal of modernizing and accelerating approvals for housing and infrastructure projects.

Consultation Ended

Additional changes, enacted on October 31, 2025, aim to make the process of updating and approving source protection plans faster and more efficient, reducing duplication and delays while maintaining safeguards against contamination and depletion of municipal drinking water sources.

Under the new framework, source protection authorities will take on a greater role in approving plan amendments, with oversight from the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP). Amendments will also introduce a 120-day approval timeline for the Minister’s review of plan submissions — after which, if no action is taken, the amendment will be automatically approved.

The legislative changes also update how “prescribed instruments” — such as environmental permits, licences, and approvals — are used to manage drinking water risks. Only two types of instrument policies will now be allowed:

1. Policies prohibiting future high-risk activities.
2. Policies requiring decision-makers to ensure that activities never become or cease to be significant drinking water threats.

Existing policies that prohibit current activities, or that address low or moderate threats, will no longer be permitted in source protection plans. Instead, new regulations will require consistent wording and reporting standards, improving transparency and accountability among decision-makers.

The government says the changes could shorten approval times by up to six months, empower local decision-making, and provide greater predictability for municipalities and developers working on projects that rely on new or expanded drinking water sources.

Ontario’s 38 source protection areas will continue to operate under existing plans until the new regulatory framework takes effect on a date to be determined.

In a statement, Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said: “The proposed changes to the Clean Water Act put Ontario’s drinking water and communities at risk by removing critical checks and balances and politicizing the water permitting process.”