Watershed Security for Ontario

Fall 2025

The OHI is a member of several coalitions and/or supports sister organizations focused on land-use planning, reduced environmental safeguards, restrictions on legal and democratic processes, and the impact that Strong Mayor powers is having on local decision-making and accountability. Regardless of the result of discussions on these important issues, we perceive each would benefit from a foundational shift from the existing approach to watershed management to a commitment to watershed security: healthy and resilient watersheds that protect regional ecological integrity, social wellbeing, and economic vitality. 

A key practical and perhaps the most fundamental aspect of that shift is for municipalities to integrate land-use and watershed planning, for which we have developed the following one-page lens with nine recommendations: 

Watershed Security for Municipalities the Need to Integrate Land Use and Watershed Planning June 25 2025

We are now sharing this widely, making presentations, and working to develop a toolkit for municipalities. We are also working to craft additional lenses to address watershed security for aggregate extraction, the Great Lakes, and agriculture, and have launched the Ontario Coalition for Watershed Security, here.  

Please contact us via andrew at ontarioheadwaters dot ca for more information, and to sign up for our newsletter to be kept in the loop. 

You can support the OHI by making a donation here.

Archive: See draft position papers from 2024, with 26 recommendations across 13 pages below. Following extensive feedback, final versions of these papers were released in April 2025 and then re-focused in June into the one page with its nine recommendations, per the link in burgundy above. 

Introduction:  Ontario Needs an Outcomes-based Framework for Watershed Security April 22 2025

Recommendations to the Province:  Restoring the Provincial Vision to Protect Our Watersheds April 22 2025 

Recommendations at the Municipal Level:  Integrating Land Use and Watershed Planning through a Municipal Charter April 22 2025

Recommendations for Conservation Authorities: A Revitalized and Expanded Role for Conservation Authorities April 22 2025

All the above in one document:  Introduction and First Three Sets of Recommendations on Watershed Security April 22 2025