Drinking Water Management on both the Federal and Provincial Level Affecting Ontario - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... Is the federal government or other provinces ripe for another 'Walkerton-size' situation
Eleven different government acts and legislative documents with respect to protection of Ontario's drinking water and water management along with the Federal Act concerning the Safe Water Act were consulted. The official report provided to both the Ontario Government and the Federal Government of Canada regarding the outcome of the incident in Walkerton, Ontario in 2001 was also consulted as a means to declare if the situation has improved and what measures have been put in place to avert this type of disaster from arising again.
There were some main points that have come about from the readings, especially from unbiased material not produced by the government, that would make it seem plausible that this situation that did happen in Walkerton could have been averted in the first place with stricter agency intervention and that the people of Ontario and Canada may be blindsided by government ineptitude. There were many recommendations that did come out of the entire enquiry and many more improvements to the Canada Water Act were completed. The main views extracted from the official documents include:
1 How the incident at Walkerton ensured the right officials were held both criminally and monetarily responsible for one of the largest environmental cases in Ontario history and recommendations that were made along with accountability.
2. Current government Acts related to potable water and environmental factors relating to fresh water systems
3 Review of the current management practices with respect to water management policy
Search Strategy
Search was conducted strictly via Internet using exact search topics of "Agenda 21-Principle 18", "federal water policy", "Canada Water Act", "Federal Water Policy", "Canadian Environmental Protection Act 1999", "Safe Drinking Water Act", "Ontario Water Resources Act" and "clean water act".

Findings
As expected, the government documents simply provided a copy of the official documentation related to each of the Government Acts, but, the importance of the literature from such sources as the Canadian EPA and the report from the inquiry into the Walkerton disaster, along with the media reporting of the trial, provided a much further insight whether the Province or Federal Government knew of the problem long before the disaster happened; or, has the Government made enough improvements into the water management schema to ensure public confidence in fresh water treatment. One of the major issues surrounding such provocative topics as water management within Ontario and the rest of the world is in how much the public trusted officials that do manage water treatment plants prior to this incident.
The public was not as aware of potential risks and death ...Download file to see next pagesRead More