Water Stewardship

Community Watersheds

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Community Watershed History

Designated community water supply watersheds (community watersheds) have been in existence since the Guidelines for Watershed Management of Crown Lands used as Community Water Supplies was prepared by a government interagency Task Force and published by Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks (now Ministry of Environment) in October 1980.

The broad definition used was: any natural watershed area on which a community holds a valid water licence issued under the Water Act by the Comptroller of Water Rights.

Criteria for selecting the 285 community watersheds listed in the guidelines were that:

• a water licence be held by a community (e.g., municipality, improvement district waterworks district, water users' community) for drinking water purposes;
• greater than 50 percent of the watershed area be in Crown Land;
• the drainage area be less than 500 km².