The mayor and councillors in Wilmot Township are voicing concerns after learning the Region of Waterloo has been taking more water from township wells over the past decade than previously thought.

The issue stems from a regional motion that is expected to be discussed at a council meeting Wednesday night. The motion would temporarily remove a water taking policy that was implemented in 1980, which caps the amount of water the region can take from the township.

Regional staff are looking to temporarily remove the policy in an effort to transfer surplus water from the township to the Manheim Service Area. In December 2025, the region flagged a water capacity constraint in that service area and said it will affect future growth in Kitchener, Waterloo and parts of Cambridge, Wilmot and Woolwich.

On Monday, Wilmot council voted unanimously in favour of a motion from by Coun. Lillianne Dunstall. Her motion asks the region to make well monitoring data publicly available and it comes after council learned last month the region had been taking more water from the township since 2019 than the policy allowed.

“The more information our public has, the more information we have and the more transparency we build in, hopefully we can avoid any further incidents of information being held from us,” Dunstall said.

Coun. Stewart Cressman said he wanted the monitoring data made public because township council and staff don’t have access to that information.

“What really concerns me is that we have monitoring wells scattered across our township and that information is not shared with us and so we’re operating blind in terms of the impact of the pumping [and] in terms of water being taken out of our township for the needs for the greater region,” he said.

‘Breakdown of trust’

Coun. Harvir Sidhu said the region taking more water from the township than it was allowed, doesn’t surprise him and called the move a “break down of trust.”

“Yes, the region and the province have jurisdiction over the water, but having jurisdiction over it doesn’t mean secrecy,” he said.

“Our residents expect us to know what’s going on in our backyards and right now, we have been put in a position by the region that we don’t know what’s going on.”

Mayor Natasha Salonen said the region “violated” the policy and worries the motion coming to regional council Wednesday to temporarily remove the policy will be deferred again, since regional staff had not as of Monday provided information around the township’s aquifer levels.

She added it’s “not a Wilmot against the region” issue and the region “should have everybody’s best interest in mind.”

“Which includes the impacted residents around these wells and not just the areas they want to grow,” she said.

Regional council is expected to meet Wednesday evening to discuss the policy, as well as a motion brought forward by regional Coun. Joe Gowing asking for the province to pause the issuing new water taking permits.