Is a Peterborough address in a regulated flood area, and whose map says so?

The Otonabee Region Conservation Authority (Otonabee Conservation) counts the City of Peterborough among its eight member municipalities. Its Regulated Areas Mapping lets you search an address: the studied floodplain is drawn in red, and the regulated area, the floodplain plus a 15-metre allowance, in yellow. It also regulates wetlands with a 30-metre buffer, watercourses, river and stream valleys and the shorelines of the Kawartha Lakes, and it says not all regulated areas are shown on the maps. Its online inquiry form answers whether it regulates a property someone wishes to buy, sell or list, and can provide a map of regulated areas and hazards or floodplain elevations.

A permit from the authority is needed to build, place fill or grade in a regulated area. It is the authority's own approval under the Conservation Authorities Act, and its inquiry page notes that people applying to the municipality for a building permit may be told to contact it; the City's building permit is a separate record. A regulated-area result governs permits; it is not a forecast that a home will flood, and a home outside the mapped area can still take water through a basement. Under the Conservation Authorities Act as amended in 2026, Otonabee Conservation is to join the Eastern Lake Ontario Regional Conservation Authority on 1 February 2027 or a later date set by regulation.

• Otonabee Conservation: regulated areas mapping: the authority's address search and what its maps show
• Otonabee Conservation: online inquiries: the inquiry form for whether a property is regulated
• Otonabee Conservation: board and governance: the eight member municipalities, the City of Peterborough among them
• Otonabee Conservation: ELORCA transition: the authority's page on joining the Eastern Lake Ontario Regional Conservation Authority
• Bill 97, Plan to Protect Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2026: Schedule 3 amends the Conservation Authorities Act; the transition date is 1 February 2027 or a later date set by regulation
• Regional conservation authority boundaries (ERO 025-1257): the Province's decision of 10 March 2026 on which authority joins which of the nine regional authorities
• Ontario Regulation 41/24: Prohibited Activities, Exemptions and Permits, the regulation behind every conservation authority's regulated area

Conservation-authority regulated-area and flood plain checks are not currently included in our reports, so for a Peterborough home the authority's own map is the place to look. The full report's water and flooding group does cover past floods seen by satellite, nearby creeks, rivers and ponds, and mapped wetlands for any Peterborough address.

What we cover, city by city See the sample report