Sustainable Water Extraction

McMaster University draws its water for use on campus from the City of Hamilton’s water distribution system. Source water protection at the City of Hamilton is the first step in a multi-barrier approach to protecting sources of drinking water such as lakes, rivers, and groundwater before they become contaminated or depleted.

As a result of the Clean Water Act, communities in Ontario were required to develop source protection plans to protect their municipal sources of drinking water. You can visit this site (https://www.hamilton.ca/home-neighbourhood/water-wastewater-stormwater/water-treatment-distribution/source-water-protection) to learn more about what the City of Hamilton is doing to ensure we are using sustainable extraction technologies and processes.

Wastewater treatment

The City of Hamilton collects and treats both sanitary and combined sewage from the large underground wastewater collection system. As part of this system, the City of Hamilton has created a voluntary Wastewater Quality Management System, to improve existing wastewater systems and processes and reduce environmental impacts. More information on the wastewater quality management system can be found here: https://www.hamilton.ca/home-neighbourhood/water-wastewater-stormwater/wastewater-collection-treatmenT