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APGO Hosts Regulation 903 Seminar in Toronto: Discussion of Recent Amendments on Water Wells

By Steve Usher, P.Geo. and Mary Jane Conboy, P.Geo.

On January 30, the APGO Environment Committee hosted a seminar at the MOE Resources Road Auditorium dealing with the recent amendments to Regulation 903 on water wells. In 2003 the regulation was amended to include test holes and monitoring wells. The fall 2007 amendments were intended to clarify the regulation in place. The APGO participated in the stakeholder consultation, and while not all our requests were granted, many changes came about due to our direct involvement. The current changes came into effect on January 1, 2008. The purpose of the seminar was to discuss the new amendments from the perspective of the professional geoscience community.

Members who are involved in Class 5 activities must have a Well Contractor Licence or work for a company that holds a contractor's licence. In order to apply for a Well Contractor Licence two forms must be filled out and application fees sent to the MOE. The forms are available either from the website http://www.forms.ssb.gov.on.ca or they can be mailed or faxed to you by phoning the Water Well Help Desk at 1-888-396-9355. The names of the two forms are: Well Contractor License Application (Form 1) and Application for an Appointment to Take an Examination. A $10.00 fee is required for each Well Contractor application and for each person under the licence who will be writing the exam. The timing and location of the exams are dependent upon the number of applications received. In general, exams are held at locations where the water well courses are being held or at the MOE building at 125 Resources Road in Toronto. The Well Contractors Licence must be renewed each year by March 31. This is a renewal process only; the exam does not need to be written for each renewal.
The speakers included several knowledgeable people from the MOE, including Cynthia Carr (Water Policy Branch), John Mayes, P.Geo. (Director of the Environmental Monitoring and Reporting Branch (EMRB), Tim Nassif (EMRB), Warren Lusk, P.Geo., (Technical Support, Kingston) and Maura Dales (Drinking Water Programs Branch, Drinking Water Management Division). Mary Jane Conboy, P.Geo., the director of the Well Wise Resource Centre and chair of the APGO Environment Committee also spoke to the 60 or so members who attended. Steven Usher, P.Geo. and APGO President, acted as moderator. Prior to the seminar, APGO was in receipt of 20 questions or scenarios from our members. These were given to the MOE speakers beforehand, so that speakers could tailor their talks to answer as many of the questions as possible and to understand the areas of greatest interest to this audience.

Several key messages were delivered by MOE staff and are pertinent to our professional practice. In particular, the exemption for professionals allows our members to conduct activities around wells at the same level as the new Class 5 license. This includes sampling, monitoring and non-powered construction of test holes. Of course these activities still have to meet the technical requirements of Regulation 903, regardless of licensing status. Of most importance to our members is the fact that neither the exempt P.Geo. nor the Class 5 license holder can do these activities unless they are employed by a licensed Well Contractor.

While many of the routine activities carried out at test holes, such as sampling by bailer or WaTerra style equipment, are exempt from the Regulation; conducting yield tests and sampling pump installation must be carried out by a P.Geo, Class 5 Well Technician or the equivalent (as outlined in the Regulation). The Regulation also provides a class of Assistant Well Technician identification card, enabling more junior staff to carry out similar work under indirect supervision (maximum 1 hour distance). A record must be submitted to the Ministry for any well that is installed, significantly modified or removed. Forms are now available to record clusters of multiple wells in a single area, but these require signed authorization from the actual property owner. If the owner's signature is not available, consultants should ask the well driller to use a record for each individual well.
The contractor license is for the corporation to ensure appropriate insurance is in place and to ensure knowledge of the Regulation. The requirements for the license are not onerous - a $10 fee and writing an exam. Many misunderstandings were cleared up, however, some attendees voiced concern about the need for another license. The message from MOE was clear - if you are doing work that requires a Class 5 license but are exempt because you are an APGO or PEO, then the company that employs you must still get a contractor license. To date, very few contractor license applications have been received by EMRB and this needs to be done. APGO encourages members to start sending in their applications and taking the exam to ensure that you are in compliance.

Director Mayes said that he is interested in greater collaboration and communication with APGO and wants to understand the special skills and activities that may be accommodated through a special license. Many geoscientist activities fall within the definition of a Class 5 license; the Regulation provides an exemption from having to obtain the license.

A question regarding access to web-based well logs in a map view was raised and Tim Nassif indicated that an issue regarding the Freedom of Information act had created a slow down in making this resource publicly available but that there was potential for a demonstration to members at some point in the future.

Maura Dales and Mary Jane Conboy teamed up to talk about some of the work being done through the Drinking Water Programs Branch of the MOE Drinking Water Management Division, to support the wells regulation and increase the level of knowledge for private well owners. They described the existing Well Aware program and the new initiative of the Well Wise Resource Centre Needs Assessment. The Well Aware program is a science-based community outreach program that has been offered in Ontario for 5 years. The Well Wise Needs Assessment is a survey to determine the well information needs of a broad audience of private well owners. Preliminary results of the Well Wise and MOE Needs Assessment were presented and members were encouraged to complete the survey if they hadn't already done so. Ms Conboy highlighted the programs offered by the Well Wise Resource Centre that is located in Orono. It offers various well programs including a province-wide testing program and a children's program.

Heather Brodie-Brown, P.Geo., wrapped up the morning by updating the group on the progress of the Best Practices Manual. There will be two manuals, one dealing with water wells and one focusing on monitoring and geotechnical wells. These documents are in the development phase but will be ready later in 2008.

The interest in greater clarification of the Regulation overshadowed the planned discussion of specific scenarios that were developed for the session. These scenarios will be written up and reviewed and then will be posted for members to use as a tool to help them understand how the revised regulation may impact their practice. APGO also hopes to post the slides from the presentations to our website.

Thank you to our speakers and for everyone who submitted questions and scenarios, and to the Environment committee for putting this session together. This was a great session and a topic we will be keeping you updated on regularly. APGO would also like to thank those members who braved a blustery day to come out and participate and remind members that the 3 hours spent in the seminar counts as CPD time in 2008.

For more information on APGO, please contact info@apgo.net

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Field Notes is published by APGO and is edited by Wendy Diaz, P.Geo. If you have comments or wish to contribute material to this newsletter, please contact Wendy Diaz, P.Geo., or Andrea Waldie, P.Geo., Executive Director/Registar.

Copyright 2007, Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario (APGO)