Dollin to chair Source Water protection group
By Rowan Lomas

Cookstown councillor Lynn Dollin is on a mission to protect drinking water from Georgian Bay to Lake Simcoe, and all watersheds between.

Ontario Environment Minister Laurel Broten appointed Dollin to chair the South Georgian Bay- Lake Simcoe Watershed Region Source Water Protection Committee Aug. 20. In short, she will be responsible for overseeing the development of a plan to ensure safe drinking water in the region, which spans over 10,000 square kilometres, from the Oak Ridges Moraine in the south to the Canadian Shield in the north.

"It is a committee that covers four watersheds in our region. Lake Simcoe, Nottawasaga Valley, Severn Sound and Black- Severn," Dollin told The Scope. "My job as chair will be to come up with a plan to protect drinking water."

Dollin is to lead a 21- member committee, which will include representatives from municipalities, business, agriculture, environmental groups and the community at large. Over the next five years the team will set out to improve the government's understanding of water resources, provide stakeholders with the technical information required for better planning, identify potential risks and how to counter them and implement those ideas through municipal official plans.

"The first job is to do an assessment report to collect data. It has to be a justifiable science based plan and we're looking at both ground water and surface water intakes," she said.

A result of Ontario's 2006 Clean Water Act and recommendations from the Walkerton inquiry, it is just one of 19 such regional committees across the province intended to protect water from overuse and contamination.

Dollin was one of three candidates short listed for the job. She has experience serving on the executive of the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority and the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority, where she also chaired the planning committee.

She announced her resignation from the Lake Simcoe authority at Innisfil's Sept. 19 council meeting, saying it would be a conflict of interest to serve on both bodies. "It was not a decision I wanted to take, but that I had to take," Dollin told her fellow councillors.

Council appointed Deputy Mayor Gord Wauchope to serve the remaining term on the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority as the Town of Innisfil's representative.