This research examined the capacity for source water protection (SWP) of privately-serviced rural areas in Ontario. Privately-serviced areas refer to communities where households and public buildings either fully or partially derive their drinking water from private water systems (i.e. private wells), which are not serviced by a municipal drinking water system. Capacity for SWP in these areas was explored through a framework consisting of the following elements of capacity: technical/human, financial, social, and institutional. A case study approach was employed using the Cataraqui Source Protection Area and the North Bay-Mattawa Source Protection Area. Thirty key informant interviews were conducted and analyzed, together with a literature review and member checking. It was found that privately-serviced rural communities often do not see the protection of drinking water as one of their mandated responsibilities and that there are institutional, technical/human, social, and financial capacity gaps for undertaking SWP in privately-serviced areas. Further investigation is needed regarding options for a new, integrated, implementable and context appropriate SWP framework for privately-serviced areas in rural Ontario. The findings of this research provide transferable lessons for the creation of rural policy in general, and the need for a rural (rather than an urban focused) approach to policies and programs to protect rural drinking water.