Quinte Source Protection Area
The Quinte Source Protection Area is based on the watershed boundaries of Quinte Conservation. This includes the watersheds of the Moira, Napanee and Salmon Rivers and all of Prince Edward County, an area of 5,921 square kilometres (km2) in eastern Ontario. There are approximately 117,000 people living in the region.
There are 11 municipal drinking water supplies in the Quinte Source Protection Area: Ameliasburgh, Belleville, Deloro, Deseronto, Madoc, Napanee, Peat's Point, Picton, Point Anne, Tweed and Wellington.
The 11 municipal drinking water systems in the Quinte Source Protection Area serve approximately 50% of the watershed's population. Seven of these systems are intakes from surface water and four are groundwater systems that have wells drilled into the underlying aquifers. The remaining population obtains water from private systems using groundwater wells, shore wells, or surface water intakes.
The Moira, Salmon and Napanee Rivers originate in the Canadian Shield. The northern areas of these watersheds feature rocky ridges, wetlands and many popular cottage lakes. Forest cover is extensive and the area has large tracts of Crown Land. As the rivers move southward, on their way to the Bay of Quinte, they pass historic old mills, charming villages, limestone plains, and agricultural lands. The County of Prince Edward has a number of small watersheds that drain from a largely agricultural area into Lake Ontario and the Bay of Quinte.
More information about source water protection in the Quinte Source Protection Area is available in the Quinte Source Protection Area Backgrounder.
Source Protection Plan
The Quinte Region Source Protection Plan directs local efforts to protect and keep sources of municipal drinking water clean.