Clean Water Primers
In 2004, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper began researching and drafting a series of manuals called the "Clean Water Primers".
The idea for the Primers stems from the demand that Lake Ontario Waterkeeper is feeling as policy-makers, analysts, volunteer groups, and the media are increasingly searching for comment on a wide range of water-related issues.
The Primer is a reference guide that includes "everything you ever needed to know," including applicable laws and policies, precedents, history, etc on a particular subject. Each primer will also include expert analysis describing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and emerging issues in the field. Over time, the individual publications will create an important resource library for policy-makers around the Great Lakes and across Canada.
A special thanks to the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation for its support of the Clean Water Primer project.
Primer #1: Taking water from the Great Lakes: a citizen's guide to the policies, rules, and procedures that protect Ontario's waterways
This Primer provides a step-by-step guide to water-takings and diversions in Ontario. It helps readers comment on new water-takings, improve existing permits, and hold people and corporations accountable for taking water without proper permits. This Primer also provides an important context for anyone participating in the ongoing creation of Ontario-United States agreements on water use.
View the Primer in .pdf format (4.8 mb)
Primer #2: An Introduction to Canadian Environmental Law and Tools
This Primer was prepared specifically for use in Waterkeeper's Clean Water Workshop. It provides a brief introduction to environmental laws (such as the Fisheries Act and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act) and tools (such as judicial review). Clean Water Primer #2 provides a handy reference for anyone working on a number of environmental issues in Canada. Note: An updated version was released in October 2007.
View the Primer in .pdf format (less than 1 mb)