New video showcases Drinking Water Protection Zone signs

A new video showcases local signs that alert the public about zones, near municipal wells, where drinking water sources are most at risk. Continued positive actions are needed to protect the groundwater in these zones, according to the Ausable Bayfield Maitland Valley Source Protection Committee (SPC).

The committee released the new video, hosted by Dave Frayne, on May 26, 2021. Dave Frayne is a municipal representative, on the SPC, for the Southwest municipalities group (Bluewater; Central Huron; Perth South; South Huron; West Perth).

He begins the video by asking, “Have you seen these signs? They read Drinking Water Protection Zone ... they mean Be Cautious.” He explains that the signs are to create public awareness of vulnerable areas around municipal wells and Great Lakes intakes in the Province of Ontario. “We have 88 of these signs in our region,” he said.

The video features a sampling of those Drinking Water Protection Zone signs that are located in various municipalities. Do you know where your community’s signs are located? If you do, then you know where the municipal water you drink is most vulnerable to spills and contamination.

The new video is available at this link: https://youtu.be/iTpxCZCAe3I

The Drinking Water Protection Zone signs video is the fifth in a series about source protection. “The videos explain about water from source to tap,” said Matt Pearson, Chair of the SPC. With more than 10,000 social media views so far, the source protection committee members are using videos as an effective way to safely reach out to the public during the pandemic. “Hopefully the videos encourage our watershed residents to do their part in keeping our drinking water sources safe now and into the future,” he said. The committee is planning to create more videos, later this year, featuring other committee members.

The new signs video, and the previous four videos in the series, are on the Ausable Bayfield YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheAusable

Links to the videos are also on Facebook and online at sourcewaterinfo.on.ca.

Here are links to the five videos, so far, in the series:

• Introduction to drinking water source protection video series with Matt Pearson, SPC Chair: https://youtu.be/c9Zh0XYmaJw
• Drinking Water Protection Zone signs (with Dave Frayne): https://youtu.be/iTpxCZCAe3I
• Treatment of Lake Huron water at the Goderich Water Treatment Plant (with John Graham and Cory Dulong): https://youtu.be/CfMqhhSE988
• Work by industries at the Goderich harbour to protect drinking water sources (with Rowland Howe): https://youtu.be/blsOdf8CfRE
• Treatment of a groundwater drinking water source at the municipal well in Seaforth (with Alyssa Keller): https://youtu.be/M3CVovxmSI4

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Mary Lynn MacDonald, Program Co-Supervisor, Ausable Bayfield Maitland Valley Source Protection Region, mmacdonald@abca.ca or phone 519-235-2610, ext. 247.

Donna Clarkson, Program Co-Supervisor, dclarkson@abca.ca 519-335-3557, ext. 224.