Rowland Howe joins local drinking water source protection committee as industry representative

A mining engineer with more than 35 years of experience in mining operations is the new industry representative on a local committee working to protect municipal drinking water sources. The source protection authorities have announced that Rowland Howe is the newest member of the Ausable Bayfield Maitland Valley Source Protection Committee (SPC). He joins the committee effective February 20, 2020.

Rowland Howe is a Chartered Engineer and President of the Goderich Port Management Corporation. He also acts as an independent consultant offering strategic and leadership services. The committee’s new industry rep worked in a strategic engineering role for Compass Minerals, delivering key projects across the company’s divisions, before retiring in November 2016. Starting in 1995, he was Mine Manager at the largest salt mine in the world, the Compass Minerals’ salt mine in Goderich, Ontario. He previously worked in the British coal industry and continued his mining career in the United Kingdom working for Imperial Chemical Industries at their salt mine before moving to Canada.

The new industry representative has served on Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Road Salt Working Group. He is a board member at Alexandra Marine and General Hospital in Goderich. In 2019, he joined the Town of Goderich’s Environmental Action Committee. He has served as a board member of the Ontario Mining Association (OMA) and on the OMA energy committee. He is a resident of Exeter, Ontario.

SPC Chair Matt Pearson welcomed the new industry representative to the committee. “Rowland brings a great depth of experience and knowledge to the Committee,” said the Chair. “He understands complex issues and his opinion will be valuable as we work towards protecting our drinking water sources and, in turn, our natural environment.”

The newest committee member thanked the local source protection authority for choosing him as the new industry representative. “I am delighted to be joining this committee to help further this important work that must be undertaken to keep our drinking water clean and safe,” he said. Source water protection helps to educate people of the challenges to ensuring clean water reaches homes, businesses, and other locations, he said. The program helps to educate people about how to keep that water clean and helps to ensure people take the necessary actions to protect that water. “We so often take it for granted in Canada that when we turn on the faucet clean, fresh, drinkable water will be there,” he said. “History teaches us that there can be no room for complacency and that we must be vigilant to ensure this basic human need is met.”

The SPC works to create policies to protect local sources of drinking water from activities that pose possible threats in areas near municipal wells.

The 2020 committee includes Chair Matt Pearson and the following members: Municipal – Allan Rothwell (East); David Blaney (Central); Myles Murdock (North); Dave Frayne (South West); Economic – Rowland Howe (Industry); Philip Keightley (Commerce); Bert Dykstra (Agriculture); Mary Ellen Foran (Agriculture); Other – John Graham (Environment); Jennette Walker (Environment); Ian Brebner (Property Owner); and Alyssa Keller (Public-at-Large).