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Save our Water – Stop the Pits

our water is under threat

Settlement Reached in Permit to Take Water Appeal: negotiations with CRH conclude with greater protections for water

The Federation of Tiny Township Shoreline Associations (FoTTSA) has negotiated a settlement of FoTTSA’s appeal of the 2021 Permit to Take Water issued by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) to the owners of the Teedon Pit, CRH Canada Group Inc. (CRH).

The settlement will result in CRH installing an impermeable liner in the recirculation cell of the company’s existing aggregate washing operations within one year of receiving the requisite environmental compliance approval from the MECP. The purpose of the liner, which may establish a new industry standard of conduct for such operations, is to prevent the release of silt-contaminated water from aggregate washing getting into the groundwater system. The settlement will also result in the inclusion in the approval of measures respecting monitoring, inspection, response to complaints, and the prevention of silt discharges to surface water through a catch basin in the site’s berm.

FoTTSA was represented during the settlement negotiations by hydrogeologist, Wilf Ruland, and lawyers from the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA).

Other parties to the settlement were the MECP and the Township of Tiny.

CELA continues to represent FoTTSA in a separate case before the Ontario Land Tribunal regarding CRH’s proposed extension of the Teedon Pit into French’s Hill, the location of a significant recharge area above the Alliston Aquifer.

Read the full settlement here.

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Adam Chambers Presents the Petition to Parliament

We are a diverse group of grassroots organizations working to protect our water. The company that owns the Teedon Pit, in Concession 1 of Tiny Township, wants to extend the pit above the Alliston Aquifer, the source of the cleanest water to have been scientifically tested in the world. They have also just received a renewal of their Permit to Take Water.

At the same time, another company, The Sarjeant Company Ltd, is preparing to open two licensed gravel pits above the same aquifer, including one with a permit to dig below the water table.

The aquifer complex supplies pure water for much of North Simcoe and is the source of the water available free at the water kiosk, just north of Elmvale. The aquifer and the kiosk are within the territory of the Anishinaabe, who have not consented to the removal of gravel here. Rally together with us – support our legal battle to stop the extension of the Teedon Pit and ask your elected representatives to impose a moratorium on gravel pits here.

“…the County needs to consider establishing the lands in the vicinity of Waverley as a groundwater protection zone.”

D. E. Jagger, P. Eng, Consulting Engineer – 14/08/2007

Watch the video here

how you can help

finance the fight

The Canadian Environmental Law Association is providing free legal assistance but FoTTSA is responsible for all expenses, estimated to total $100,000. Make a donation to FoTTSA’s Save Our Water Legal Fund – click here to donate.

show your support

Donate at least $10 and get a lawn sign to show you care about our water!

learn and share

Check out the background information on this site and follow us on social media. Write your government representatives and ask them to save our water by imposing a moratorium on the extraction of gravel above the aquifer.

did you know…

  • Groundwater used by private wells in Tiny Township is not protected by the Clean Water Act. 
  • Aggregate extraction (gravel and sand pits) in Tiny Township has increased by more than 60% since 2000.
  • The company that owns the Teedon Pit, CRH Canada (which owns Dufferin) wants to extend the Teedon Gravel Pit .
  • In addition to the potential environmental risks posed by the extraction and washing of gravel so close to the aquifer, the pit running at capacity could mean 40 trucks an hour coming in and out of Tiny Township.
  • The Sarjeant Company has a license to dig two new gravel pits in Concession 1 above the Alliston Aquifer and to extract gravel below the water table at one of them.

“The township or county level should be passing groundwater protection bylaws. I don’t think it’s ever been done in Ontario but there’s a mechanism to do that and you should pass it in your township council… Run it up the flagpole and then see how badly you get beaten. Otherwise you have absolutely no power.”

Dr. John Cherry, speaking to a public meeting in Elmvale, April 28 2019

our water…our future

LPAT hearing

  • We’re fighting against the extension of the Teedon Gravel Pit and the renewal of its permit to take water to wash gravel.
  • This gravel pit is in Tiny Township over the aquifer that supplies pure water for much of North Simcoe and beyond and was threatened over 10 years ago by the proposal to establish Dump Site 41.
  • Residents near the Teedon gravel pit, who rely on groundwater because there is no municipal water system in their part of Tiny Township, began reporting silt in their wells, local streams and springs soon after the Teedon Pit expanded in 2008-2009, though the connection between the pit operation and the impacts on wells is disputed by the province and the pit owner.  Silt has also been briefly observed recently in the well water at the water kiosk on County Road 27, just north of Elmvale.
  • The current pit owners appealed to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (formerly OMB) because of the Township’s failure to amend its Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw to allow for the extension of the pit above the aquifer. FoTTSA has been granted party status in the appeal.
  • Protection of drinking water is so important in this case that lawyers with the Canadian Environmental Law Association agreed to represent FoTTSA.
  • FoTTSA needs to raise at least $100,000 to cover all the other legal costs including hiring expert witnesses.

where is the aquifer?

Click here for more maps

about us

We are a diverse group of grass roots organizations working to protect our water: FoTTSA, The Council of Canadians, AWARE Simcoe, The Friends of the Waverley Uplands, Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition, neighbours of the Teedon Pit, and many individuals concerned about damage to the aquifer.

contacts

info@friendsofthewaverleyuplands.ca

secretary.fottsa@tinycottager.org

FoTTSA – The Federation of Tiny Township Shoreline Associations
42 Haslemere Rd.
Toronto, Ontario M4N 1X6

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