Planning for a Sustainable Future:
A Federal Sustainable Development Strategy for Canada
2013–2016 - Consultation Paper

Sustainable Development Office
Environment Canada

February 2013

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Annex 2: Theme II: Maintaining Water Quality and Availability

• 3. Goal: Water Quality and Water Quantity
• 3.1. Target: First Nations Water and Wastewater Systems
• 3.2. Target: Drinking Water Quality
• 3.3. Target: Great Lakes – Canadian Areas of Concern
• 3.4. Target: Great Lakes
• 3.5. Target: St. Lawrence River
• 3.6. Target: Lake Simcoe
• 3.7. Target: Lake Winnipeg Basin
• 3.8. Target: Marine Pollution – Releases of Harmful Pollutants
• 3.9. Target: Marine Pollution – Disposal at Sea
• 3.10. Target: Agri-Environmental Performance Indices
• 3.11. Target: Chemicals Management
• 3.12. Target: Wastewater Effluent
• 3.13. Target: Water Resource Management

 

Target Area: Support Safe and Secure Water Systems

 

Implementation Strategies

Enabling Capacity

• 3.1.1. Increase First Nations capacity to operate and maintain water and wastewater systems by improving access to and support for operator certification and training, in order to augment the number of certified operators. (AANDC) (IMPROVED)
• 3.1.2. Continue to enhance capacity to monitor drinking water quality in First Nations communities to protect public health:
  • 3.1.2.1. Support all First Nations communities in ensuring access to a trained Community- Based Water Monitor or Environmental Health Officer. (HC)
  • 3.1.2.2. Support all First Nations communities in monitoring drinking water quality as per the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality. (HC)

Advancing Knowledge and Communications

• 3.1.3. Strengthen enforceable water and wastewater standards: (IMPROVED)
  • 3.1.3.1. Develop and continuously update technical guidance protocols, such as the Protocol for Safe Drinking Water in First Nations Communities and the Protocol for Wastewater Treatment and Disposal in First Nations Communities. (AANDC)
  • 3.1.3.2. Develop appropriate regulatory framework and legislation for safe drinking water and wastewater treatment in First Nations communities. (AANDC)
  • 3.1.3.3. Provide financial and advisory support to First Nations to assist them in complying with requirements of Environment Canada's Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations. (AANDC)

Demanding Performance

• 3.1.4. Prioritize investment support to First Nations to target highest-risk water and wastewater systems. (AANDC) (NEW)

Implementation Strategies

• 3.2.1. Update "Guidance for providing safe drinking water in areas of federal jurisdiction." (HC)
• 3.2.2. Develop on average five water quality guidelines/guidance documents (i.e. drinking water, recreational water and household reclaimed water) per year in collaboration with provinces/ territories, which are used as a basis for their regulatory requirements. (HC)
• 3.2.3. Support provinces and territories and international organizations by sharing and disseminating scientific risk assessments on drinking water contaminants. (HC)

Target Area: Protect and Restore Healthy Aquatic Ecosystems

Implementation Strategies

Implementation strategies refer to both targets (3.3 and 3.4):

Enabling Capacity

• 3.3.1. Fund external work through Grants and Contribution Agreements to coordinate Remedial Action Plans related to the remediation and restoration of beneficial uses in Areas of Concern (AOCs) in the Great Lakes and through the Great Lakes Sustainability Fund, which provides technical and financial support to projects to clean up and restore AOCs. (EC)
• 3.3.2. Implement Lakewide Action and Management Plans related to the restoration and protection of the Great Lakes. (EC)
• 3.3.3. Establish cooperative partnerships between Canadian and U.S. federal, state, tribal, provincial and municipal governments, First Nations, Métis, watershed management agencies, and other local public agencies in order to achieve the vision of a healthy, prosperous and sustainable Great Lakes ecosystem. (EC) (IMPROVED)

Advancing Knowledge and Communications

• 3.3.4. Release reports regularly on State of the Great Lakes environmental indicators, Progress
  Report of the Parties (Canada-U.S.), updates for Lakewide Management Plans and a report on groundwater science. (EC)
• 3.3.5. Coordinate with the U.S. scientific research and monitoring activities in the Great Lakes through the binational Co-operative Science and Monitoring Initiative. (EC)

Demanding Performance

• 3.3.6. Manage/deliver Great Lakes results federally-provincially, between the Government of
  Canada and the Province of Ontario through the Canada-Ontario Agreement Respecting Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health. (EC)
• 3.3.7. Manage/deliver Great Lakes results binationally between Canada and the U.S. through the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. (EC)
  
• 3.3.8. Implement long-term management solutions to clean up radioactive waste in the Port Hope area. (NRCan)
• 3.3.9. Develop action plans and strategies on Great Lakes issues to address evolving historic issues and issues of emerging concern in the Great Lakes. (EC) (NEW)
  • 3.3.9.1. Nutrients – Commitments to address phosphorus loads to the Great Lakes. (EC)
  • 3.3.9.2. Aquatic invasive species – Commitments to prevent their introduction and spread. (DFO)
  • 3.3.9.3. Habitat and species – Commitments to address habitat and species protection and restoration. (EC)
  • 3.3.9.4. Chemicals of mutual concern – Commitments to reduce or eliminate the use and release of chemicals of concern (mutually agreed to for action by Canada and the U.S.) using approaches that are accountable, adaptive and science-based. (EC)

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Implementation Strategies

Enabling Capacity

• 3.5.1. Fund external work through Grants and Contribution Agreements so that communities can restore beneficial uses, improve environmental quality in their locality along the St. Lawrence, and contribute to collaboration processes in their locality along the St. Lawrence. (EC)
• 3.5.2. Establish important cooperative partnerships between the federal and provincial governments and engage the appropriate public and stakeholder participation in order to achieve the vision of a healthy, prosperous and sustainable St. Lawrence River ecosystem. (EC)

Advancing Knowledge and Communications

• 3.5.3. Release reports regularly on the State of the St. Lawrence and factsheets on 21 environmental indicators. (EC)
• 3.5.4. Conduct and coordinate research, prediction and monitoring activities in the St. Lawrence with other federal and provincial departments and with local communities. (EC)

Demanding Performance

• 3.5.5. Report St. Lawrence Action Plan results federally, between the Government of Canada and the Province of Quebec. (EC)

Implementation Strategy

Enabling Capacity

• 3.6.1. Provide financial and technical support through the Lake Simcoe/South-eastern Georgian Bay Clean-Up Fund to implement priority projects aimed at reducing phosphorus inputs, conserving aquatic habitat and species, and enhancing research and monitoring capacity that are essential to the restoration of the Lake Simcoe and South eastern Georgian Bay Basin watersheds. (EC)

Implementation Strategies

Enabling Capacity

• 3.7.1. Provide financial and technical support, through the Lake Winnipeg Basin Stewardship
  Fund, to projects having concrete, demonstrable results to reduce pollutants and, in particular, nutrient loads, throughout the Lake Winnipeg Basin. (EC)

Advancing Knowledge and Communications

• 3.7.2. Conduct science activities required to understand the relationship between the ecology and nutrient cycling within Lake Winnipeg, and the sources and transport mechanisms for nutrients, in order to help inform the development of nutrient objectives and performance indicators for Lake Winnipeg. (EC)
  
• 3.7.3. Conduct monitoring activities for Lake Winnipeg and its sub-watersheds in order to help inform the development of nutrient objectives and performance indicators for Lake Winnipeg. (EC)
• 3.7.4. Support the ongoing development and expansion of the single window Web information portal to better promote and enable data sharing and analysis with partners and other networks, in order to support research on Lake Winnipeg. (EC)

Demanding Performance

• 3.7.5. The Lake Winnipeg Basin Management Office will coordinate and manage the activities of the Lake Winnipeg initiative, work with existing water governance bodies, explore the need for an overarching basin mechanism to cooperatively develop a basin-wide strategy, and provide a forum for communication. (EC)
• 3.7.6. Work with the Province of Manitoba to continue implementation of the Canada-Manitoba Memorandum of Understanding Respecting Lake Winnipeg, which provides for a long-term collaborative and coordinated approach between the two governments to ensure the sustainability and health of the Lake Winnipeg Basin. (EC)

Target Area: Prevent Pollution and Manage Water

¹ Subject to change pending approval of TC's 2013-2014 Performance Measurement Framework.

Implementation Strategy

Demanding Performance

• 3.8.1. Set the legal and regulatory frameworks through domestic legislation and international conventions that govern the protection of the marine environment from pollution, the introduction of invasive species and the environmental impact of pollution incidents, and advance Canadian positions on reducing and managing global marine pollution from ships. (TC)

Implementation Strategies

Demanding Performance

• 3.9.1. Complementary to 3.8, set the legal and regulatory frameworks through domestic legislation and international conventions that govern the protection of the marine environment from pollution from disposal at sea, and advance Canadian positions that can influence global rules towards reducing and managing global marine pollution from all sources. (EC) (IMPROVED)
• 3.9.2. Contribute to reducing pollution from disposal at sea through permit assessment and monitoring to ensure sustainability in compliance with Canadian legislation such as the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999. (EC) (IMPROVED)

Implementation Strategies

Enabling Capacity

• 3.10.1. Provide shared funding to provinces and territories that provide a systematic approach to farmers to assess priority environmental risks, plan effective mitigation and increase adoption of sustainable agricultural practices at farm and landscape levels. The program components will be determined in early 2013. (AAFC)

Advancing Knowledge and Communications

• 3.10.2. Conduct targeted research to increase knowledge of water resources relative to agriculture and increase the understanding of the effectiveness of beneficial management practices in agricultural watersheds. The program components will be established in early 2013. (AAFC)
• 3.10.3. Assess and report on the collective environmental and economic impact of the adoption of sustainable agriculture practices by farmers on the Canadian landscape. (AAFC)
• 3.10.4. Identify opportunities to work within the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment to develop nutrient management approaches from non-point agricultural sources. (EC)

Implementation Strategies

Leading by Example

• 3.11.1. Federal custodians complete remediation/risk management activities at federal contaminated sites for which they are responsible in order to reduce human health and ecological risks at higher-priority sites. (EC)
• 3.11.2. Guidance and program policies developed by the program secretariat and the expert support departments are provided to federal custodians for program implementation activities. (EC)

Enabling Capacity

• 3.11.3. Work with other jurisdictions to undertake regional and multilateral efforts to manage chemicals of concern for Canadians and their environment. (EC) (NEW)

Advancing Knowledge and Communications

• 3.11.4. Assess 100% of 1500 targeted existing commercial substances as identified under the Chemicals Management Plan for risks to human health and/or the environment by 2016. (EC, HC)
• 3.11.5. Address 100% of new substances, for which Environment Canada has been notified by industry of their intended manufacture or import, to determine if they may pose risks to human health and/or the environment within the timelines in the regulation or established service standards. (EC, HC) (IMPROVED)

Demanding Performance

• 3.11.6. Ensure at least one risk management measure is in place within the legally mandated timeframes for 100% of substances deemed to be harmful to human health or the environment. (EC, HC)
• 3.11.7. Deliver compliance promotion activities to inform stakeholders of new regulations under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, for substances identified as being a risk to human health and/or the environment, through the Chemicals Management Plan. (EC) (IMPROVED)
• 3.11.8. Prevent unacceptable risk to people and the environment through the regulation of pesticides. (HC) (NEW)

Implementation Strategies

Demanding Performance

• 3.12.1. Collaborate with provinces and Yukon to ensure compliance with the effluent quality standards in Canada's Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations for high-risk wastewater systems by 2020. (EC) (IMPROVED)
• 3.12.2. Continue to work with the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador on minimum effluent quality standards for wastewater effluent for the far north. Amend the Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations to include the far north and environmental effects monitoring requirements. (EC)

Implementation Strategies

Enabling Capacity

• 3.13.1. Diversify the western Canadian economy by making strategic investments in the commercialization and adoption of water technologies through the Western Diversification Program. (WD)
• 3.13.2. Deliver, with the Atlantic provinces, collaborative environmental initiatives that advance long-term coordinated approaches to water management that ensure the sustainability and health of water resources in Atlantic Canada. (EC) (NEW)

Advancing Knowledge and Communications

• 3.13.3. Continue work on collection and dissemination of hydrometric data through the Water Survey of Canada. (EC)
• 3.13.4. Conduct surveys on water use such as the Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators Industrial Water Use Survey, Survey of Drinking Water Plants, Agriculture Water Use Survey, and Households and the Environment Survey. (StatCan) (IMPROVED)
• 3.13.5. Provide governments and industry with access to necessary groundwater geoscience information. (NRCan)
• 3.13.6. Continue to engage in international water boards to coordinate on transboundary water issues with other Canadian government agencies and relevant U.S. counterparts. (EC) (NEW)
• 3.13.7. Develop national indicators for sustainable groundwater management through the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment. (EC) (NEW)
• 3.13.8. Advance knowledge on the state of watersheds to support stakeholders on integrated water resource management decisions. (EC) (NEW)

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