GUELPH/WELLINGTON – The County of Wellington and the City of Guelph are close to an agreement that would see the city funding some operating costs for a county water protection plan due to the benefits Guelph sees from it.
The exact details and dollar figures of the arrangement are still being negotiated but Guelph city council authorized staff to execute the agreement with the county when terms are finalized.
Wellington County council is set to approve a recommendation at a Thursday meeting.
The agreement would see the City of Guelph pay some operating costs for Wellington Source Water Protection, an agency responsible for ensuring Wellington County and its member municipalities follow legislative requirements of the Clean Water Act which include protecting drinking water sources.
Aldo Salis, county director of planning and development, explained in a phone call the wellhead protection areas that impact the City of Guelph don’t stop at municipal borders.
“The way the legislation works is municipalities that have wellhead protection areas are required to protect those areas,” Salis said. “But the jurisdiction for the city stops at their border and the area of extent outside of their boundary that falls into Guelph/Eramosa and Puslinch is pretty extensive.”
Therefore, Salis said the county and member municipalities take on the responsibility of groundwater protection but the city is not obligated to the county.
“They didn’t really capture situations where you have a separated city that falls within a large rural area like Wellington and Guelph,” Salis said.
This is why a mutual agreement has been ongoing for many years and is close to completion.
Salis said what Guelph will be paying can’t be shared yet as the agreement isn’t finalized.
Emily Stahl, Guelph’s manager of technical services, also said figures aren’t public yet. She explained the city will be paying for things like septic inspections done on their behalf by the county’s risk management official.
The risk management official’s budget for 2022 was listed as just over $300,000 in Centre Wellington’s budget, where the official is based out from a technical standpoint.
Salis said this is another display of cooperation between the city and county in terms of services.
“We’re certainly pleased that they’re assisting us financially,” Salis said. “The city obviously wants to ensure that we continue to provide that high level of service that we have done over the last number of years and we’re pleased that they were able to reach an agreement to contribute to the program.”
