Regional council voids policy limiting Wilmot water taking with opposition from residents
Posted Apr 9, 2026 07:51:23 AM.
Last Updated Apr 9, 2026 09:46:10 AM.
Regional council have decided to rescind a 1980 policy limiting how much water can be taken from Wilmot Township aquifers and distributed throughout the rest of Waterloo Region.
Residents from Wilmot attended the region’s special council meeting on Wednesday, pleading their case to council on why they believe the pumping of water from township aquifers is having a negative impact on local wells and wetlands. When it was originally put in place more than four decades ago, it was done at the request of residents whose wells were allegedly being depleted because of water being drawn by the City of Kitchener.
Today, regional staff claim that they’re working within the 1980 policy, but that a 30 litres per second draw is required to support the Mannheim Service Area as they work to find solutions to the current water capacity issue.
“The Wilmot Centre Wells have sufficient capacity to meet the forecasted growth needs of Baden and New Hamburg through to 2051, while still supporting the transfer of approximately 30 L/s of additional capacity to the Mannheim Service Area, where there is a current water capacity constraint,” reads the report from regional staff shared at Wednesday’s meeting.
Staff noted that, on a case-by-case basis, pulling water from Wilmot aquifers may be affecting private wells, but that further investigation is required and shouldn’t be divulged in a public meeting.
“Recent water level responses and surface water features, including the Shingletown Wetland, are affected more by longer-term periods of below-average precipitation and recharge than by changes in pumping from the well field,” reads the staff report.
Councillor Natasha Salonen, who is also the Mayor of Wilmot, was opposed to rescinding the policy on staff’s recommendation and preferred to review the policy once the Water Supply Strategy is completed.
“I’m really struggling with this when this is a compromise on allowing development to proceed while also acknowledging that there are some legitimate concerns and still outstanding questions related to this ongoing issue,” said Salonen. “I think that we really need to, especially on groundwater, be proceeding in a cautionary way, but a way that also allows for development.”
“This policy does not need to be revoked in order for those 30 litres a second to be transferred into the system, as they already have been for the last six years now,” added Salonen.
Some experts who sent messages to council ahead of Wednesday’s meeting believe that staff are off the mark on their assumption that there’s enough water to support growth in Wilmot Township into the future.
“Groundwater is a public good that knows no boundaries. It must be handled with the gravity its scarcity deserves. The region’s consultants presuppose that ‘there is enough water.’ We reject this presupposition. We demand the protection of our private wells and the natural heritage of Wilmot Township,” said Samantha Lernout, president of Citizens for Safe Ground Water, in a letter to council.
In spite of opposition from residents and Councillor Salonen, the bulk of council voted to rescind the 1980 policy.
“We’re maintaining a policy that is completely outdated,” said Councillor Colleen James. “This is the problem that we get in as governance. We maintain these policies that are outdated. This is kind of how we have things like our housing crisis and all of that that we’re in now, because there’s policies that are being implemented that are moot.”
More updates on the water capacity issues in the Mannheim Service Area are set to be brought back to council next month.
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