| Any individual that removes more than 50,000 litres of water per day from surface or groundwater sources in Ontario must hold a Permit to Take Water (PTTW) Issued by the Ministry of the Environment (MOE). As a result, aggregate quarries operating below the water table often require a PTTW in order to dewater the pit. The government of Ontario has recently prioritized the protection of drinking water through source water protection legislation managed by the Conservation Authorities (CAs) on a watershed scale. PTTW applications are assessed on an individual basis by the MOE, not by the CA responsible for water use planning. This research proposes a framework for bridging the gap between the CAs and MOE for assessing PTTW applications and their cumulative effects using numerical modelling. A case study area with five quarries was numerically modelled using Visual MODFLOW to illustrate some of the questions or concerns that arise when assessing the cumulative impacts of PTTWs. |
