Water Withdrawal and Protection Regulation (WWPR)

Ministère de l’Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs

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Assessment of the Water Withdrawal and Protection Regulation standards

August 2017 assessment

The Water Withdrawal and Protection Regulation (chapter Q‑2, r. 35.2, called the “WWPR”) entered into force on August 14, 2014. Section 106 of the Regulation provided that standards relating to the protection of water samples taken for the purposes of human consumption or food processing be evaluated three years later, and subsequently every five years, on the basis of the advancement of scientific and technical knowledge. To that end, reviews of the scientific and technical literature, as well as similar requirements established in provinces and states neighbouring Québec, were conducted for various groups of standards.

Section 106. The standards of this Regulation concerning the protection of water withdrawals for human consumption or food processing purposes are evaluated 3 years after the coming into force of this Regulation (2014-08-14) and every 5 years after that on the basis of the evolution of the applicable scientific and technical knowledge in that respect.

Below are the reports produced for five groups of standards:

Review of recent scientific literature and regulations bearing on water withdrawal facilities not subject to ministerial authorization, WWPR, chapter III. Ministère du Développement durable, de l'Environnement et de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques (French, PDF, 590 KB)
Review of the scientific and regulatory literature bearing on standards set forth in Chapter V of the Water Withdrawal and Protection Regulation (WWPR): Drilling sites used to explore for or produce petroleum, natural gas or brine, or to explore for or operate an underground reservoir. Centre Eau Terre Environnement, INRS-ETE (French, PDF, 1.2 MB)
- Appendix 1: Assessment of WWPR Chapter V. Targeted compilation of the relevant scientific literature (French, PDF, 293 KB)
- Appendix 2: Comparison of requirements in various jurisdictions and industry recommendations relating to standards set forth in Chapter V of the WWPR (French, Excel, 286 KB)
- Expert opinion–Christine Rivard (French, PDF, 86 KB)
- Avis d'expert–John Molson (French, PDF, 61 KB)
- Expert opinion–Stephan Séjourné (French, PDF, 315 KB)
Review of the literature bearing on the WWPR standards relating to protected surface water withdrawal zones. Université Laval (French, PDF, 590 KB)
Protective measures relating to surface water withdrawals for human consumption: protected zones and vulnerability of sources–Bibliographical review. Polytechnique Montréal (French, PDF, 590 KB)
Review of the recent scientific literature and regulations on protective measures for water in agricultural environments–Final Report. Institut de recherche et de développement en agroenvironnement (IRDA) (French, PDF, 590 KB)

The Department is continuing the analysis of these reviews of the literature to determine the next steps.

2018 assessment

A review of the scientific and technical literature and similar requirements in other states and provinces was also made in 2018, relating to Chapter IV of the Water Withdrawal and Protection Regulation respecting the design and construction of geothermal systems.

Review of the literature bearing on regulations and standards for geothermal pumping systems and water withdrawal protection (French, PDF, 1,8 Mo). Institut national de la recherche scientifique - Centre Eau Terre Environnement

Assessment of standards applicable to pesticides utilized in proximity to water withdrawal sites meant for human consumption – 2020

The standards applicable to the use of pesticides in proximity to withdrawal sites for water meant for human consumption are stipulated in the Pesticides Management, not the WWPR. A review of the literature on the history of pesticide use, the profile of pesticide occurrence in water, the regulatory framework in other jurisdictions and the state of scientific knowledge about the behaviour of pesticides in subsurface water was prepared for the Ministère in 2020.

Renforcement de la protection des puits municipaux en lien avec l’utilisation de pesticides–Strengthened protection of municipal wells regarding the use of pesticides (French, PDF, 2,2 Mo)–Bibliographical Report. Université du Québec à Montréal.

The latest updated report of pesticide sales in Québec and monitoring pesticides in water (French) are available on the Ministère’s website.