Abstracts

tection that is being implemented in Ontario under the authority of the Clean Water Act,
2006. Central to this approach is the management of water quality and quantity threats
posed by land use activities adjacent to municipal drinking water sources. One policy option
being advanced is the negotiation of site-specific Risk Management Plans (RMPS)
between local Risk Management Officials (RMO) and individual landowners that will
stipulate measures that must be implemented to mitigate identified threats.
A critical problem associated with the negotiation of RMPs is what approach will be used
when determining their format and content. One option is the traditional expert-driven
approach, where the regulator determines risk management requirements and then informs
the landowner how and when they will be implemented. Unfortunately, this approach
is ill-suited for addressing complex environmental problems such as protecting and
managing groundwater resources.
An alternative are collaborative approaches to decision-making, where the regulator is part
of a risk management process in which outcomes are discussed and requirements are negotiated.
Collaborative approaches can provide a forum for integrating different types of expert
science, local knowledge, and community beliefs and values. This can assist regulators
who may have little or no knowledge of the science concerning a complex environmental
problem, and the effectiveness and relative cost or operational considerations associated
with risk management alternatives. As a result, collaborative approaches are well suited for
helping RMOs to negotiate RMPs that will protect and manage groundwater resources.
The agricultural community has had substantial involvement with collaborative approaches
to protecting and managing groundwater resources that are critical for environmentally
and economically sustainable farm operations. A key role has been educating regulators
concerning the complexities of environmental management concerning activities that
operate in an open environment and must respond to the changing conditions of that
environment. This paper describes the development of a Farm Source Water Protection
Plan (FSWPP) framework and workbook developed by the Ontario Farm Environmental
Coalition. The FSWPP provides a tool to help farmers to identify on-farm risk management
measures, and serve as the basis for negotiating RMPs. Conversely, the FSWPP can
provide the RMO with an inventory of risk reduction measures that could be considered
for the RMP and guidance concerning appropriate levels of risk management for a particular
farm operation.
188 - Long term assessment of BMPs impact on nitrate load at
the Thornton Well Field using RZWQM
Sara Esmaeili & Neil R. Thomson
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo,
Ontario, Canada
David L. Rudolph
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo,
Ontario, Canada
IAH-CNC 2015 WATERLOO CONFERENCE
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