General Resources
Ontario Ground Water Association Phone: (519) 245-7194
- Can help you locate a local well driller in your area
- Have questions or concerns about your contractor
- Drilling a new well, or have an existing well
Membership includes licensed well drillers and pump installers, manufacturers and suppliers, and groundwater scientists and engineers.
Ontario Ministry of the Environment Well-related publications available to rural homeowners
- Ontario Wells Regulation
- Technical Bulletins and Fact sheets
- Water Supply Wells, Requirements and Best Management Practices (December 2009)
- List of Licensed well contractors in Ontario
- List of Laboratories licensed to perform drinking water testing in Ontario
- Contact the Wells Help Desk
Green Communities Canada Phone: (705) 745-7479
- Connect you with local environmental organizations in your community
- Share other programs with you
- Slow Rain is an ecological approach to rural and urban storm water management
- EcoDriver help your wallet and the planet with better driving habits
- Canada Walks active transportation solutions and active lifestyles
- Save Home Energy serious about saving energy at home
- Provide information and resources
A national umbrella group for community non-profit organizations that deliver environmental programs and services.
Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation has many detailed publications about rural water and wastewater.
Well Records
Available for a FREE from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. Well records are entered under the name of the original well owner, lot and concession or the well tag number that is affixed to the well.
Phone:1-888-396-9355.
Water Testing
It is important to note that all bacteriological tests for Ontario are done in a licensed laboratory.
These tests are not done in the home.
The Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion Public Health Laboratories test for indicator bacteria. Collection kits can be picked up at an public health laboratory or at your local health unit. For the one nearest you, look under "health" in the blue pages of your telephone directory.
Licensed private labs can provide packages pesticides, minerals, metals, solvents, and fuels.
The Ontario Ground Water Association provides confidential soil and water testing packages for well owners through licensed laboratories in Ontario. Test packages include pesticides, minerals, metals, solvents, and fuels.
Water Treatment Devices
Health Canada provides information regarding:
Canadian Water Quality Association (CWQA)provides information about water quality improvement for homes, businesses, industry and institutions.
Septic Systems
Ontario Onsite Wastewater Association and Ontario Association of Sewage Industry Services
- installation of a septic system
- pumping of a septic system
- Portable Toilet rental
- training, education and research
A Guide To Operating and Maintaining Your Septic System. Available from Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Phone: 1-416-585-6666
Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation fact sheet Your Septic System. How your system functions and how to live with a septic system.
Agricultural Best Practices
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has many resources about water specific to the agricultural community. For more information the Environmental Farm Plan in your area, call: Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association: 1-800-265-9751.
Other
Ontario Stewardship's purpose is to inform landowners about the value of an ecologically friendly approach.
Nature Clean has solutions for a toxic free home.
EcoEthic Quality, leading edge, environmental products. For cottage, cabin, country and city living.
Conservation Ontario is the network of local watershed management agencies that deliver services and programs that protect and manage water and other natural resources in partnership with government, landowners and other organizations.
Complete Walkerton Inquiry report.
Click here to protect your drinking water by booking your home visit.
Talk about your well -
at your well.
Looking for funding to decommission an unused well?
Click here to see an interactive map that the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority has put together to help.
Click to download Well Aware booklet
Links to water related topics of interest:
REPORT: Out of Sight, Out of Mind, Private Well Stewardship in Ontario. Summary of the findings of the Ontario Household Water Well Owner Survey 2008. Summary Report and Full Report.
Looking for world water awareness? Click here to see an incredible video.
The full documentary FLOW: For the Love of Water. This award winning documentary is a must see film about what is becoming one of the most important issues of our time
GASLAND is a film about hydraulic fracturing. Watch a PBS interview with Josh Fox, film maker. Read what the Council of Canadians have to say about this process in Ontario.
WATERLIFE follows the epic cascade of the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. View this award winning website.
BLUE GOLD is a documentary about water rights becomes an arsenal in grassroots efforts to battle water privatization. (click on the 'watch instantly' on the left of the screen)
Septic Reinspection Standards Released
The Building Code (Ontario Regulation 350/06) was recently amended by Ontario Regulation 315/10 to establish and govern on-site sewage system maintenance inspection programs.
The guidelines for these programs, to be administered by "principal authorities" (i.e., municipalities, health units and/or conservation authorities) cover both mandatory (as dictated by the Clean Water Act, and discretionary programs (the vast majority of Ontario's 12.2 million on-site sewage systems are not in a mandatory inspection area.
The “in-force” date for many of these programs is January 1, 2011. The balance of the regulation, concerning certain areas around the Lake Simcoe shoreline and watershed, comes into effect January 1, 2016.
The Well Aware program is a valuable and accessible community resource that not only teaches rural homeowners how to best care for their well, but instills the values of water stewardship.
Jeff Leal, MPP
Peterborough
