Residential development on the environmentally sensitive land in southwest Newmarket would not detrimentally impact the source of the town's drinking water, provided all the rules regarding development on environmentally sensitive areas are followed, according to a York Region expert.
Concerns about the impact on water quality have been one of the criticisms levelled at a proposal for a new subdivision by Shining Hill Estates for that area of town on the Oak Ridges Moraine, which is currently protected from development by rules put in place by the Town of Newmarket in 2003 — rules that council must decide whether to uphold or change to allow for the new subdivision.
The sandy and gravelly soil of the moraine acts like a "sponge and filter" for water to make its way down to the water table. But during a workshop on Tuesday, councillors were told that there are enough rules and precautions in place to allow development to go ahead without contaminating the groundwater.
"We have a lot of tools in place, as well as the official plan and the Clean Water Act on top of that, all of which prohibit certain activities near the wells," said Peter Lister, York Region's program director for source water protection.
"I am pretty comfortable saying that the work that we do does protect the aquifer from new developments.
"There are some risks from residential development, but I would say they are relatively low when compared to industrial and commercial sites. A residential site could have stormwater ponds, new sewer lines going in, deep excavations, but it's all fairly simple to manage the risk."
"We are quite lucky in Ontario to have the Oak Ridges Moraine ... it's sand and gravel deposits act like a great sponge and filter for water to become groundwater," said Lister.
Most communities in York Region get their water from Lake Ontario, although some communities like Newmarket get it from both the lake and municipally-owned wells. Some of the municipal wells in the region are located on the moraine, but none of Newmarket's six wells.
"Although some of the recharge (water that makes its way into the water table) does come from the moraine," said Lister.
There are three major aquifers in York Region, said Lister, and Newmarket's wells go down 100 metres to reach the deeper one that means they are "naturally well-protected and have good water quality."
Melinda Bessey, director of planning at the conservation authority, explained to councillors Tuesday that whenever her staff perform a natural heritage assessment for a project, they examine a variety of things, including impact on water quality and wildlife habitat, and flooding risk. Staff visit the site and provide an assessment to the relevant municipality.
Mayor John Taylor said that council needs to have to try to understand the issues involved as it moves forward to find the right balance between development and environmental protection.
"I think it's safe to say this is an ongoing dialogue," said the mayor. "Development is so essential to what is going on in the Greater Toronto Area. And we need to ... manage that balance between growth and the environment."
