Ontario heads out to clean waters

On May 18, the Ontario government introduced legislation intended to boost the province’s water technology expertise and to promote water conservation.
The Water Opportunities and Water Conservation Act has three stated goals, including to “Make Ontario a North American leader in developing and selling water technologies and services.”
The province aims to do this by creating a technology hub that will bring together people from the industry, academics and government. The hub is named the “Water Technology Acceleration Project (TAP).
It also says it will implement innovative approaches to conserving water, such as by optimizing systems, and bringing in water efficiency labelling for equipment and consumer products.
In their announcement, the government said it plans to “strengthen sustainable municipal water planning by helping them identify and plan for long term infrastructure needs.”
The water and wastewater industry in Ontario generates $1.8 billion in sales, says the government. The water technology sector worldwide is valued at more than $400 billion.
The above announcement by Premier Dalton McGuinty came on the 10th anniversary of the Walkerton tragedy, an event which spurred a transformation of water treatment in Canada.
The announcement also came on the heels of a report posted April 1, 2010 by the Ontario Centre for Environmental Technology Advancement (OCETA) and other organizations entitled “The Water Opportunity for Ontario.” That industry-based report also suggested that Ontario could be recognized as a global “centre of water excellence and world class provider of technologies, services and know-how for innovative and sustainable water solutions.”