NEW INDUSTRY THAT REQUIRES LARGE QUANTITIES OF WATER NOW FORBIDDEN
Monte Sonnenberg - SIMCOE REFORMER
Friday March 03, 2006
The Simcoe Reformer — Norfolk plans to challenge recent regulations that threaten the county’s efforts to rehabilitate its economy.
Norfolk’s economic development staff recently noticed that the Ministry of Environment has imposed severe restrictions on development in the county that requires significant amounts of water.
The regulation defines Norfolk, Elgin County and parts of Brant and Haldimand counties as areas of high usage. As such, industrial activities are forbidden if they require 50,000 litres or more per day from surface or aquifer sources.
Regulation 387/04 was adopted in December 2004. The regulation forbids new water permits in Norfolk for beverage making. This includes the bottling of water.
Also forbidden are new canning and pickling facilities for the processing of fruits and vegetables. Concrete manufacturing is forbidden, as is the processing of aggregate into slurry. New manufacturing facilities requiring 50,000 litres of water per day or more are also forbidden.
Langton Coun. Roger Geysens expressed disbelief at this week’s meeting of Norfolk council.
Geysens noted that the affected area is trying to retool its economy now that taxes and government policy have crushed tobacco farming. Secondary industries related to agriculture have been identified as a way of bouncing back, but Geysens says Queen’s Park has thrown up another roadblock.
“I don’t think we can accept this from the province,” he said. “This will seriously impact what we’re trying to do in Norfolk.”
Geysens noted that the restriction would limit the potential of an agri-food innovation centre. It would also hamper efforts to develop value-added industries related to Norfolk’s abundant agricultural output.
Clark Hoskin, Norfolk’s manager of tourism and economic development, says Regulation 387/04 is only one of many measures from the McGuinty government that are keeping rural Ontario down. At every turn, Hoskin said, there seems to be a provincial impediment to Norfolk renewing its economy.
“People are outraged,” Hoskin said yesterday. “It’s just another way of restricting growth in rural areas. That seems to be the direction the provincial government is going: ‘Whatever we can do to restrict growth in rural areas, let’s do it.’”
Paul Odom, the MOE’s supervisor of water resources in west-central region, says his orders under Regulation 387/04 are clear –– no permits for the proscribed activities.
Odom said the level of water-taking in the affected zone has been a concern since water-taking permits became law in 1963.
Water-taking on the Norfolk sand plain has long been a problem, he said, adding local creeks and streams would run dry in the summer if water-taking were not controlled. The regulation encompasses groundwater as well, Odom added, because surface water and groundwater levels on the Norfolk sand plain are connected.
“When there’s lots of water, no one wants it,” Odom said. “It’s when water is low that everyone wants it.”
Regulation 387/04 does not apply to water drawn from Lake Erie or from municipal water systems.
Monte Sonnenberg (519) 426-5710 ext. 150
msonnenberg@bowesnet.com |
