OFA has provided comments to the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks regarding ERO # 025-1104 regulatory changes for accelerating and improving protections for Ontario’s drinking water sources.

OFA supports efforts to streamline and modernize source water protection, provided changes remain transparent, science-based, and do not impose disproportionate impacts on agricultural operations. OFA opposes exempting replacement wells or intakes that expand vulnerable areas from existing approval and notification processes, and stresses that any new mapping or inclusion of agricultural lands should require an assessment similar to an Agricultural Impact Assessment (AIA) of impacts on farm operations. OFA supports a single, well-resourced consultation phase for Source Protection Plan (SPP) amendments, clear ministerial oversight, and appropriate inter-ministerial input. OFA emphasizes the continued importance of prescribed instruments, standardized policies, and adequate agricultural training for risk management officials, while reiterating that source water protection is a shared responsibility and that agricultural risks can be effectively managed within Ontario’s existing multi-barrier framework for drinking water protection.