Approved Assessment Report for the Lakehead Source Protection Area
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Approved Assessment Report for the Lakehead Source Protection Area Bare Point Intake Protection Zone Rosslyn Wellhead Protection Area LAKEHEAD SOURCE PROTECTION COMMITTEE May, 2011 Executive Summary of the “Amended Proposed Assessment Report for the Lakehead Source Protection Area” The Ontario Government legislated the “Clean Water Act, 2006” in order to protect drinking water at the source as part of an overall commitment to human health and the environment. A key focus of the legislation is the production of a locally-developed, science-based Assessment Report and Source Protection Plan. The Lakehead Source Protection Committee is representative of the watershed community and includes members representing the Municipal, economic and industrial, and public and academic sectors. The Lakehead Source Protection Committee is responsible for the production of the Assessment Report and Source Protection Plan. The Lakehead Source Protection Committee prepared the Assessment Report, which identifies and outlines various elements of the local watersheds and Municipal Residential Drinking Water Systems within the Lakehead Source Protection Area, as per the requirements of the “Directors Technical Rules, Clean Water Act, 2006”. An Assessment Report includes the watershed characterization, Great Lakes considerations, climate change and analysis of a water budget, drinking water vulnerability and threats within the Lakehead Source Protection Area. The information within the Assessment Report will be used for the purpose of developing a Source Protection Plan. The objective of a Source Protection Plan is to establish the measures to protect both the quality and quantity of drinking water sources within the watersheds of the Lakehead Source Protection Area. A Source Protection Plan is considered the first step in a multi-barrier approach to ensuring safe drinking water. Other barriers include measures to ensure treatment implementation, safe water distribution, monitoring and emergency response. During the development of the Source Protection Plan, the Lakehead Source Protection Committee will work together with representatives from the local watershed community (e.g., Municipalities, Conservation Authority, water users and land owners). Watershed Characterization is a description of the entire area of both the land and water that is drained by a river and its tributaries, known as a watershed. The Watershed Characterization information will assist in developing a better understanding of the geographical conditions of the watershed. The Lakehead Region Conservation Authority developed the Watershed Characterization by compiling the available information on the physical, sociological and economic makeup of the Lakehead Source Protection Area. The Watershed Characterization includes the facts and figures on population distribution, climate, land use, water use, existing water-related monitoring systems and the natural characteristics of the watersheds within the Lakehead Source Protection Area. A Water Budget and Water Quantity Stress Assessment report for the Lakehead Source Protection Area was prepared by a consultant, in August 2008, in accordance with the Ontario Ministry of Environment guidelines. This report provides a basic understanding of the surface and groundwater hydrology within the Lakehead Source Protection Area and was used in the preparation of the Water Budget chapter for the Assessment Report. The Conceptual Water Budget provides baseline data collection, mapping and an analysis of the information compiled in order to produce an initial overview of the function of the flow system for both groundwater and “Approved Assessment Report for the Lakehead Source Protection Area” May 2011 © Lakehead Region Conservation Authority i surface water in the Lakehead Source Protection Area. The main objective of the Conceptual Water Budget is to answer the following basic questions: 1) Where is the water? 2) How does the water move between reservoirs? 3) What and where are the stresses on the water? 4) What are the trends? The main objective of the Tier 1 Assessment was to estimate and describe the movement of water within the various elements of the hydrologic cycle to identify areas that may face water quantity stress within the Lakehead Source Protection Area. The Tier 1 Assessment utilizes available data collected during the Conceptual Water Budget phase to evaluate the cumulative stress within each basin. Within the Assessment Report, the elements of the Tier 1 Assessment have been updated, where required, to reflect the “Ontario Ministry of Environment Directors Technical Rules, November, 2009”. The chapter on groundwater and surface water vulnerability provides an analysis of the Thunder Bay (Bare Point) Water Treatment Plant Intake Protection Zones and Rosslyn Village Subdivision Well Supply Wellhead Protection Areas. This chapter of the Assessment Report will be used to help develop the Source Protection Plan, which will outline measures to protect both the quality and quantity of sources of drinking water within the Lakehead Source Protection Area. Groundwater vulnerability is defined as the tendency and likelihood for general contaminants to reach the water table after introduction at the ground surface. All groundwater is to some degree vulnerable and the analysis for the assessment reflects the ability of contaminants to reach the water table in groundwater aquifers across the region. For the purposes of the Assessment Report, the intrinsic vulnerability analysis approach was used to identify the vulnerable areas. The analysis was based on the existing hydrogeological data, land use and information from the provincial groundwater studies. The section on the Intrinsic Susceptibility Index (ISI) describes the vulnerability of the aquifer. The Intrinsic Susceptibility Index was estimated by assigning a numerical score related to the hydraulic conductivity of the material in each layer overlying the water table, multiplied by the thickness of that layer. Based on this analysis, the higher the Intrinsic Susceptibility Index, the less sensitive the aquifer is. The vulnerable areas considered in the analysis include Wellhead Protection Areas (WHPAs) and Intake Protection Zones (IPZs) around Municipal Residential Drinking Water supplies, Highly Vulnerable Aquifers (HVAs) and Significant Groundwater Recharge Areas (SGRAs). The relative vulnerability within each of these areas was characterized as high, medium or low. This categorization is intended to reflect the susceptibility of the aquifer(s) in the vulnerable areas to surface (or near surface) sources of contamination. The vulnerability score is assigned based on the intrinsic susceptibility analysis and presented in the mapping products. These results, as well as the level of confidence in the assessment, will be provided as input to the "Water Quality Risk Assessment". The results indicate that the 100 metre radius area around the Wellhead Protection Areas having a score of 10 is highly vulnerable to contamination from surface sources. Most of the area within 2-year time of travel has a medium vulnerability (V score 6) to contamination from surface sources. Some areas within the 25-year capture zone of the Rosslyn Village Subdivision Well Supply have a medium vulnerability (V score 6). It is also observed that some areas within the 5-year capture zone of the Rosslyn “Approved Assessment Report for the Lakehead Source Protection Area” May 2011 © Lakehead Region Conservation Authority ii Village Subdivision Well Supply have a medium vulnerability (V score of 6). Surface water vulnerability is defined as the tendency and likelihood for general contaminants to reach the surface water intake after introduction in-water, alongshore or up-tributary. All surface water has some degree of vulnerability. Water intakes situated on the Great Lakes are less vulnerable than drinking water intakes situated on smaller surface water bodies as there tends to be more water surrounding the intake, which allows for greater dilution of a contaminant. Three vulnerable zones apply to a Great Lakes Municipal Residential Drinking Water System intake: Intake Protection Zone 1, a primary zone immediately around the intake having a radius of 1,000 metres (one kilometre) as defined in “Directors Technical Rules, Clean Water Act, 2006” Part VI.3, Rule 61(1)(a). This represents the most immediate and vulnerable area around the intake. Intake Protection Zone 2, a secondary zone having dimensions determined from calculations based upon characteristics of the local environment, such as local water movement vectors and nearby shoreline and tributary watercourse features. Intake Protection Zone 3, a tertiary zone having dimensions determined using an Events Based Approach (EBA). The Intake Protection Zone 3 is determined using an approach that quantifies the distance from which contaminants could travel in an extreme event and contaminate the surface water intake. To be determined in a future Assessment Report, as technical study related to the determination and delineation of an Intake Protection Zone-3 for the Thunder Bay (Bare Point Road) Water Treatment Plant has not been completed to date. Vulnerability scores for these areas are determined based on several characteristics including, percentage of area inland, land characteristics, transport pathways, intake depth, intake distance offshore and recorded water quality issues. Vulnerability was determined for the surface water intake for the Thunder Bay