March 18, 2014 Mr. Bob Colhoun Chairman Engineering & Public Works Committee The District Municipality of Muskoka 70 Pine Street Bracebridge, ON P1L 1N3 Dear Chair Colhoun and Members of The Committee Council, I would ask that you please accept this letter as my request to be a delegation at this week’s meeting of the Engineering & Public Works Committee. I am writing in my capacity as the President of the Moon River Property Owners Association (MRPOA). Our association represents approximately 225 families who own property on the Moon River in Bala. The spring and fall of 2013 brought significant flooding to the Moon River. Specifically, the portion most impacted was what is commonly known as “the Moon Reach”. The Moon Reach can be seen on the map which accompanies this letter. It runs from the North and South Bala Falls to the Moon River Chutes. “The Chutes” are a natural narrowing point in the river approximately 5kms west of Bala. Just beyond “The Chutes”, the river actually divides into two rivers. The Moon continues to Georgian Bay and the Musquash River flows westerly through the Ragged Rapids Generator and the Big Eddy Generator and eventually into Georgian Bay. The purpose of this letter is not to re-start the debate about why there were spring and fall floods of our area last year. The purpose is to look at the conditions as they exist now and to explore what, if any precautions or other measures can be taken now to reduce or prevent a repeat of what took place last spring. In addition, we would like to offer some suggestions as to how to better inform landowners in case there are possible damaging water levels this spring. The Situation Today The following pictures, taken on March 17th, 2014 in the afternoon, will give you an opportunity to visually visit our locale and to see what the river status was at that time. What you will notice is that: 1. The water level, as measured on March 17th at the Township of Muskoka Lakes Dock on Portage Street in Bala, is 219.3m. Incidentally, this is the same level as on March 13, 2014 when I took my benchmark photographs. Moon River Property Owners Association P.O. Box 157 Bala, Ontario P0C 1A0 2. Water flow rates over the North Bala Falls and the South Bala Falls are normal and could perhaps be less than normal for this time of year. 3. The river has ice from shore-to-shore in the vicinity of “Roselawn” which is about 500m west of the North Bala Falls. 4. From Roselawn , west to The Chutes, the river is completely frozen from shore- to-shore. Also Gaunt Bay, and all other bays west of Bala, are totally frozen with no water open. 5. From Tooke Island, west to the Moon Dam, the river is frozen from shore-to- shore. 6. The Moon Dam is completely shut with all stop logs in place and water levels in the area of the Moon Dam and Ragged Rapids Generating Station are at normal summer levels. The Water Level Gauge in Bala: Moon River Property Owners Association P.O. Box 157 Bala, Ontario P0C 1A0 Water Flows – North and South Bala Falls North Falls South Falls Moon River Property Owners Association P.O. Box 157 Bala, Ontario P0C 1A0 River Ice West beyond Roselawn Moon Reach Ice View Moon River Property Owners Association P.O. Box 157 Bala, Ontario P0C 1A0 Tooke Island to Moon Dam Moon Dam Showing Closed Sluices Our Concerns Our members are very concerned about the possibility of some or all of the following events taking place in the weeks ahead due to the deep snow pack, the frozen ground underneath the snow pack, and little or no melting having taken place as of yet. 1. A rapid flooding of the watershed caused by a sudden and rapid melting of the snowpack caused by heavy rainfall. Moon River Property Owners Association P.O. Box 157 Bala, Ontario P0C 1A0 2. As a result of #1 above, a rapid and severe increase in the water levels of the Moon River. This would cause: a. Significant damage to docks that are currently frozen into the river ice because the river was not lowered enough last November and the docks were frozen into the ice while the water remained abnormally high. b. Severe property damage caused by floating ice being moved about by strong currents and/or strong winds. 3. Flooding of roads and other infra-structure along both the north and south shores of the Moon River. The north shore is the most vulnerable due to significant low-lying wetlands along the Gaunt Bay shore. This could reduce access to properties in this area. 4. Damage to property stranded in a combination of snow and ice along the shoreline of the river. Many items could not be moved to their normal winter locations due to severe high water conditions last fall. 5. Damage to buildings, including basements, due to extremely high water. We recognize that flood control was never contemplated when the current system of dams and other structures was designed and constructed. However, we do feel that it is incumbent upon the Ministry of Natural Resources and, perhaps, also Ontario Power Generation and/or other hydro utilities to work with our local governments and land- owner groups, such as MRPOA and the Muskoka Lakes Association, in order to better communicate and assist in mitigating the possibility of damaging flooding or high water levels. Our Requests and Suggestions MRPOA would like to see the following actions undertaken immediately. 1. Landowner groups be included at all briefing and discussion meetings with the MNR, local utilities/OPG and local/district governments. 2. A better, faster and more effective communications plan be immediately created that will include the use of landowners’ associations to communicate status reports regarding water levels and conditions to as many residents as possible, using the internet and email groups. 3. Where possible and practical, stocks of emergency supplies, including sandbags be strategically distributed now rather than as needed. 4. Water levels be reduced as quickly and as damage-free as possible, so that the possibility of a sudden and rapid increase in water levels can be prevented as much as possible. We would add that, if necessary, the MNR consider some mechanical ice-breaking now in order to speed up the reduction of the lake ice and assist in the lowering of water levels. Such ice- breaking could be accomplished by the use of barge mounted machinery or a small hovercraft (possibly available from Transport Canada).This equipment could be pushed to strategic locations, to break up the lake ice and reduce Moon River Property Owners Association P.O. Box 157 Bala, Ontario P0C 1A0 the possibility of ice jams in river and lake narrows, by getting the water flowing now. What is MRPOA Doing? 1. On behalf of our members, I have started taking photographs at strategic locations along the Moon River. These photographs will give us a pictorial reference to use this spring as conditions change. 2. We have created a network of “waterspotters”. These spotters are located throughout our membership catchment area. They will be asked to identify rapid or emerging changes to the river at their individual property locations. This will enable MRPOA to better inform members about the changing scenarios as the river begins to react to the spring thaw. 3. We have recently updated our email lists and have begun a series of member e-newsletters to keep our members better informed about conditions on the Moon River. Governments, the MNR and utilities must realize that the local Muskoka media, as good as it is, can only reach a very small percentage of the land owners since so many do not live here full-time. By working cooperatively together with an effective plan, MRPOA strongly believes that everyone can mitigate the potential for damage such as we encountered last spring. We trust that The District Municipality of Muskoka is thinking the same way, and will facilitate the inclusion of MRPOA in the scheduled March 31, 2014 meeting with the MNR and other governments. Sincerely, J. A. (Sandy) Currie President Moon River Property Owners Association Moon River Property Owners Association P.O. Box 157 Bala, Ontario P0C 1A0 .