The issue of protecting sources of potable drinking water in Southeastern Manitoba is now a growing concern and will only escalate once CanWhite Sands silica sand mine development project gets the go ahead, from the Pallister government, to start extracting silica sand from deep within the aquifer that provides communities in Southeastern Manitoba with their source of drinking water.
The Manitoba Minister of Conservation and Climate has a number statutory responsibilities regarding the use and protection of sources of potable water in Manitoba, which only seems logical from an administrative perspective.
The Division, within the Ministry of Conservation and Climate, tasked with the responsibility of monitoring and enforcing those statutory obligations of the Manitoba Minister of Conservation and Climate is the Water Stewardship and Biodiversity Division.
In October of 2019, for reason yet unknown, the Palllister government thought it was necessary for the Water Stewardship and Biodiversity Division to be moved out of the Ministry of Conservation and Climate and into the Ministry of Agriculture and Resource Development, whose statutory responsibilities include the Manitoba Mines and Minerals Act.
The Manitoba Minister of Conservation and Climate still retains statutory responsibilities for various acts related to the protection, enforcement and monitoring of Manitoba's sources of potable drinking water. The Manitoba Minister of Conservation and Climate is now no longer in charge, nor in control, of the Division, with the staff expertise and resources, that is charged with the duties of enforcing the provisions that the Minister of Conservation and Climate has statutory responsible for when it comes to protecting sources of potable drinking water. That now rests with the Manitoba Minister of Agriculture and Resource Development, which largely represent the interests of commercial heavy users of potable water in Manitoba.