DOCSLIB.ORG

Within Reach: 2015 RAP Progress Report

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Within Reach: 2015 RAP Progress Report PREPARED BY JOANNA KIDD, KIDD CONSULTING BY JOANNA KIDD, KIDD CONSULTING PREPARED WITHIN REACH: 2015 TORONTO AND REGION REMEDIAL ACTION PLAN PROGRESS REPORT TORONTO & REGION REMEDIAL ACTION PL AN TORONTO & REGION REMEDIAL ACTION PLAN WITHIN REACH: 2015 TORONTO AND REGION REMEDIAL ACTION PLAN PROGRESS REPORT 2015 TO R O NT O AN D R E G I O N R E M E D IA L A CTI O N PL AN P R OG RE SS R EP O RT TORONTO & REGION 2015 TORONTO AND REGION REMEDIAL ACTION PLAN PROGRESS REPORT WWW.TORONTORAP.CA REMEDIAL ACTION PLAN WITHIN REACH: For additional copies of this report please contact: Toronto and Region Conservation Authority 5 Shoreham Drive, Toronto, Ontario M3N 1S4 phone: 416-661-6600 fax: 416-661-6898 © 2016 Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, 5 Shoreham Drive, Downsview, ON M3N 1S4. All rights reserved. All photography © Toronto and Region Conservation Authority 2016 unless otherwise specified. The Toronto and Region Remedial Action Plan is managed by representatives from Environment and Climate Change Canada Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..........................................................................................iii 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................1 1.1. How We Got Here: The History of the Toronto and Region RAP ............... 1 1.2. Where We Need to Get To .........................................................................3 1.3. About This Report ............................................................................. 6 2. EXISTING CONDITIONS AND TRENDS .......................7 2.1. Water Quality .................................................................................... 7 2.1.1. Phosphorus ..................................................................................... 9 2.1.2. Bacteria ......................................................................................... 11 2.1.3. Heavy Metals and Persistent Organic Compounds .......................... 14 2.1.4. Chloride ......................................................................................... 15 2.1.5. Aesthetics ...................................................................................... 16 2.2. Bottom Sediments and Benthic Organisms ........................................ 18 2.2.1. Bottom Sediments .......................................................................... 18 2.2.2. Benthic Communities ..................................................................... 19 2.3. Habitats ........................................................................................ 20 2.3.1. Natural Cover ................................................................................. 20 2.3.2. Wetlands ........................................................................................ 22 2.3.3. Riparian Vegetation ........................................................................ 22 2.3.4. Aquatic Habitat .............................................................................. 23 2.4. Fish and Wildlife ............................................................................. 24 2.4.1. Fish Communities .......................................................................... 24 2.4.2. Contaminants in Fish ..................................................................... 29 2.4.3. Wildlife Communities ...................................................................... 34 2.4.4. Contaminants in Wildlife ................................................................. 35 3. KEY ACTIONS TAKEN 2007-2015 .........................37 3.1. Legislation, Regulations and Major Initiatives ..................................... 37 3.1.1. Pesticides Act ................................................................................ 37 3.1.2. Toxics Reduction Act, 2009 and Ontario Regulation 455/09 ............ 37 3.1.3. Great Lakes Strategy and Great Lakes Protection Act ...................... 37 3.1.4. Ontario’s 12-Point Plan on Blue-Green Algal Blooms ....................... 38 3.1.5. Spill Prevention and Contingency Plans Regulation ......................... 38 3.1.6. Source Water Protection ................................................................. 38 3.1.7. Rouge National Urban Park ............................................................ 38 3.1.8. Coordinated Land-Use Planning Review ......................................... 39 3.2. Clean Waters ................................................................................... 39 3.2.1. Wet Weather Flows in the City of Toronto ........................................ 39 3.2.2. Other Stormwater Management Initiatives ....................................... 42 3.2.3. Eliminating Dry Weather Flows ....................................................... 43 i 3.2.4. Sewers Bylaw ................................................................................. 43 3.2.5. Improving Beach Water Quality ..................................................... 43 3.2.6. Rural and Agricultural Activities ...................................................... 45 3.3. Healthy Habitats ............................................................................. 46 3.3.1. Terrestrial Natural Heritage System ................................................. 46 3.3.2. Terrestrial Habitat Creation and Enhancement ................................ 46 3.3.3. Reforestation and Riparian Vegetation ............................................ 47 3.3.4. Aquatic Habitat Creation and Enhancement ................................... 47 3.4. Healthy Fish and Wildlife ................................................................. 52 3.4.1. Fisheries Management Plans .......................................................... 52 3.4.2. Fish Barrier Mitigation .................................................................... 52 3.5. Sustainable Watersheds and Waterfront ............................................. 53 3.5.1. Sustainable Watershed Actions ....................................................... 53 3.5.2. Sustainable Waterfront Actions ....................................................... 54 3.6. Monitoring and Science ................................................................... 54 3.6.1. Monitoring Actions ......................................................................... 54 3.6.2. Science Actions ............................................................................. 55 3.7. Stewardship and Education .............................................................. 59 4. PROGRESS MADE SINCE 2007 ..............................61 4.1. Progress on Beneficial Use Impairments ............................................ 63 4.1.1. Degradation of Benthos .......................................................... 63 4.1.2. Restrictions on Dredging Activities .......................................... 63 4.1.3. Fish Tumours or Other Deformities .......................................... 64 4.1.4. Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproductive Problems ............... 65 4.1.5. Degradation of Aesthetics....................................................... 66 4.1.6. Restrictions on Fish Consumption ........................................... 67 4.1.7. Degradation of Phytoplankton and Zooplankton Communities .... 68 4.2. Progress on Priority Actions from the 2007 RAP Progress Report ......... 69 5. KEY ACTIONS FOR DE-LISTING (2016-2020) ..........81 5.1. Addressing Eutrophication and Undesirable Algae ............................. 81 5.2. Improving Conditions at Waterfront Beaches ...................................... 82 5.3. Improving the Health of Fish and Wildlife Populations and Habitats ..... 82 5.4. Restrictions on Fish Consumption ..................................................... 84 5.5. Degradation of Phytoplankton and Zooplankton Communities .............. 84 6. LOOKING FORWARD TO 2020 ................................85 Appendix A: ...................................................................................................... 88 Re-designation Criteria for Remaining BUIs ................................................ 88 ii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Toronto and Region Remedial Action Plan (RAP) is aimed at restoring the health of Toronto’s waters and habitats and has been underway since 1987. This report – Within Reach: 2015 Toronto and Region RAP Progress Report – outlines the key actions that have been carried out and the progress that has been made since the last Progress Report was prepared in 2007. This update highlights the positive strides we have made towards delisting success. Since the RAP began in 1987, agencies, municipalities and non-governmental organizations have worked together to improve the environmental conditions in the Toronto RAP area. Implementation of remedial and restoration actions began in 1994 and has led to significant and demonstrable improvements in the quality of water and sediment, the amount and condition of terrestrial and aquatic habitats, and the health of aquatic biota and aquatic communities. Key outcomes include: • phosphorus levels along the waterfront are no longer an issue and meet the mesotrophic target set for the RAP (although continued work on critical wet weather flow infrastructure is needed to ensure that this does not change); • there has been a substantial reduction in loadings of E. coli to the waterfront which has resulted in a steady decline in beach closings
Load more

Recommended publications
  • STAFF REPORT ACTION REQUIRED Wet Weather Flow Master Plan And
    STAFF REPORT ACTION REQUIRED Wet Weather Flow Master Plan and Basement Flooding Protection Program Update Date: August 12, 2011 To: Public Works and Infrastructure Committee From: General Manager, Toronto Water Wards: City-wide Reference P:\2011\Cluster B\TW\pw11012 Number: SUMMARY The purpose of this report is to advise Council of the progress made since the adoption of the Wet Weather Flow Master Plan (WWFMP) in 2003, to set priorities for the next five years and seek approval in principle for the Don River and Central Waterfront Project. Subsequent to the adoption of the WWFMP, the rainstorm of August 2005 and the discovery of significant faults in the Coxwell Sanitary Trunk Sewer have profoundly influenced the implementation of the Plan. As a result, the main funding priorities should be: improving basement flooding protection during extreme storms; twinning of the Coxwell Sanitary Trunk Sewer; elimination of combined sewer overflows; and protection of infrastructure and property from imminent collapse due to stream erosion. All of these priorities are urgent, the solutions very complicated and each will involve several hundreds of millions of dollars to correct. This report recommends that the Basement Flooding Protection Program, the Don River and Central Waterfront Project and the Stream Restoration Program be the main funding priorities for the WWFMP over the next five to ten years. Within those programs, it also recommends a method for prioritizing basement flooding projects and coordinating those projects with the rest of the Capital construction program and recommends a technical amendment to the low income subsidy for the Downspout Disconnection Program.
    [Show full text]
  • What Spot Off the Beaten Path Would You Show a Tourist? Recommendations from @Metromorning Followers on Twitter
    Toronto What spot off the beaten path would you show a tourist? Recommendations from @metromorning followers on Twitter. Feb 2017 9 Metro Morning 10 jauntful.com/metromorning 2 1 3 6 4 8 7 ©OpenStreetMap contributors, ©Mapbox, ©Foursquare Étienne Brulé Park 1 Toronto Hunt Club 2 Kensington Market 3 Grenadier Pond 4 Park Golf Course Neighborhood Lake Depends on the season! Fall: Etienne The Toronto Hunt Club and its view of Off-the-beaten-path #toronto: You just don't expect to see that kind of Brûlé Park (colour, salmon jumping). the lake at sunset when there is a sailing Kensington Market, Sunnybrook beauty off a major street in T.O. @tvgurl @KinderFynes regatta going on! @Think_teach Park/Don River bike trail, Ashbridges Bay/Beaches. @MartiniBlake 13 Crosby Ave, Toronto 1355 Kingston Rd., Toronto Note Against the Grain Urban Tavern... 6 Cherry Beach 7 Ward's Island 8 Bar Beach Neighborhood One of the best kept secrets in the City Sugar Beach! Against the Grain for lunch Cherry beach, Leslie street spit! The islands are a popular recreational are the parks, vistas and views all along on patio, stroll along lake, relax on @jengonzales8 destination, and are home to a small the Scarborough Bluffs, top and bottom. "beach", share Redpath history. residential community and to the Billy @CllrCrawford @jsquaredink Bishop Toronto City Airport. @nogahK 25 Dockside Dr, Toronto (647) 344-1562 corusquay.atgurbantavern.ca Cherry Beach, Toronto Brickworks Park 9 Humber Arboretum 10 Other Garden A community environmental centre that Located behind Humber College's North inspires and equips visitors to live, work campus, the Humber Arboretum consists and play more sustainably.
    [Show full text]
  • 3131 Lower Don River West Lower Don River West 4.0 DESCRIPTION
    Lower Don River West Environmental Study Report Remedial Flood Protection Project 4.0 DESCRIPTION OF LOWER DON 4.1 The Don River Watershed The Don River is one of more than sixty rivers and streams flowing south from the Oak Ridges Moraine. The River is approximately 38 km long and outlets into the Keating Channel, which then conveys the flows into Toronto Harbour and Lake Historic Watershed Ontario. The entire drainage basin of the Don urbanization of the river's headwaters in York River is 360 km2. Figure 4.1 and Figure 4.2, on the Region began in the early 1980s and continues following pages, describe the existing and future today. land use conditions within the Don River Watershed. Hydrologic changes in the watershed began when settlers converted the forests to agricultural fields; For 200 years, the Don Watershed has been many streams were denuded even of bank side subject to intense pressures from human vegetation. Urban development then intensified settlement. These have fragmented the river the problems of warmer water temperatures, valley's natural branching pattern; degraded and erosion, and water pollution. Over the years often destroyed its once rich aquatic and during the three waves of urban expansion, the terrestrial wildlife habitat; and polluted its waters Don River mouth, originally an extensive delta with raw sewage, industrial/agricultural marsh, was filled in and the lower portion of the chemicals, metals and other assorted river was straightened. contaminants. Small Don River tributaries were piped and Land clearing, settlement, and urbanization have buried, wetlands were "reclaimed," and springs proceeded in three waves in the Don River were lost.
    [Show full text]
  • Historical Settlement
    HISTORICAL SETTLEMENT CHAPTER 3 The period of historical settlement in the Highland Creek watershed began in about 1650 when aboriginal populations first made contact with European explorers and settlers. A major landmark on the north shore of Lake Ontario, the Scarborough Highlands lent their name to the creek immediately below them from the beginning. Its Mississauga name of “Yat.qui.I.be.no.nick”, recorded in 1796, and all subsequent names reflect its geographical position as the first creek below the high land. Travellers going westward on the lake would often camp at the mouth of the Highland Creek rather than attempt a passage along the base of the Bluffs in darkness or bad weather. The following sections provide an overview of the historical period including contact between aboriginal and Euro-Canadian peoples, key characteristics of the successive periods of settlement, the impact of this settlement on the environment, and a summary of heritage resources found in the watershed. 3.1 CONTACT 1650 TO 1800 Following the decimation and ultimate dispersal of the Petun and Huron by the Iroquois in 1650, southern Ontario was uninhabited for a few years before the Iroquois moved into the area to establish a number of large villages along the north shore of Lake Ontario for the exploitation of the local fur resources. One such village was Ganatsekiagon, located on the Rouge River. No villages of this size and importance have been found in the Highland Creek watershed, but evidence shows that the resources of Highland Creek were used by the native peoples of these villages.
    [Show full text]
  • Toronto Parks & Trails Map 2001
    STEELES AAVEVE E STEELES AAVEVE W STEELES AAVEVE E THACKERATHACKERAYY PPARKARK STEELES AAVEVE W STEELES AAVEVE W STEELES AAVEVE E MILLIKEN PPARKARK - CEDARBRAE DDu CONCESSION u GOLF & COUNTRCOUNTRYY nccan a CLUB BLACK CREEK n G. ROSS LORD PPARKARK C AUDRELANE PPARKARK r PIONEER e e SANWOOD k VILLAGE VE VE G. ROSS LORD PPARKARK EAST DON PPARKLANDARKLAND VE PPARKARK D D E BESTVIEW PPARKARK BATHURSTBATHURST LAWNLAWN ek A a reee s RD RD C R OWN LINE LINE OWN OWN LINE LINE OWN llss t iill VE VE YORK VE ROWNTREE MILLS PPARKARK MEMORIAL PPARKARK M n TERRTERRYY T BLACK CREEK Do r a A nnR Ge m NT RD NT F NT VE VE VE E UNIVERSITY VE ARK ARK ST VE ARK VE VE R VE FOX RD ALBION RD PPARKLANDARKLAND i U HIGHLAND U A VE VE VE VE vve VEV T A A A AVE e P RD RD RD GLENDALE AN RD BROOKSIDE A PPARKARK A O r O AV MEMORMEMORYY W GOLF MEMORIAL B T M M N ND GARDENS ND l L'AMOREAUX ON RD HARRHARRYETTAYETTA a TIN GROVE RD RD RD GROVE GROVE TIN TIN H DUNCAN CREEK PPARKARK H COURSE OON c ORIA ORIA PPARKARK TTO kkC GARDENS E S C THURSTHURST YVIEYVIEW G r IDLA NNE S IDLA ARDEN ARDEN e ARDEN FUNDY BABAYY PICKERING TOWN LINE LINE TOWN PICKERING PICKERING EDGELEY PPARKARK e PICKERING MCCOWMCCOWAN RD MARTIN GROVE RD RD GROVE MAR MARTIN MAR EAST KENNEDY RD BIRC BIRCHMOUNT BIRC MIDLAND MIDLAND M PHARMACY M PHARMACY AVE AVE PHARMACY PHARMACY MIDDLEFIELD RD RD RD RD MIDDLEFIELD MIDDLEFIELD MIDDLEFIELD BRIMLEY RD RD BRIMLEY BRIMLEY k BRIMLEY MARKHAM RD RD RD MARKHAM MARKHAM BABATHURST ST RD MARKHAM KIPLING AVE AVE KIPLING KIPLING KIPLING WARDEN AVE AVE WARDEN WESTWESTON RD BABAYVIE W DUFFERIN ST YONGE ST VICTORIA PARK AVE AVE PARK VICT VICTORIA JAJANE ST KEELE ST LESLIE ST VICT PPARKARK G.
    [Show full text]
  • Trailside Esterbrooke Kingslake Harringay
    MILLIKEN COMMUNITY TRAIL CONTINUES TRAIL CONTINUES CENTRE INTO VAUGHAN INTO MARKHAM Roxanne Enchanted Hills Codlin Anthia Scoville P Codlin Minglehaze THACKERAY PARK Cabana English Song Meadoway Glencoyne Frank Rivers Captains Way Goldhawk Wilderness MILLIKEN PARK - CEDARBRAE Murray Ross Festival Tanjoe Ashcott Cascaden Cathy Jean Flax Gardenway Gossamer Grove Kelvin Covewood Flatwoods Holmbush Redlea Duxbury Nipigon Holmbush Provence Nipigon Forest New GOLF & COUNTRY Anthia Huntsmill New Forest Shockley Carnival Greenwin Village Ivyway Inniscross Raynes Enchanted Hills CONCESSION Goodmark Alabast Beulah Alness Inniscross Hullmar Townsend Goldenwood Saddletree Franca Rockland Janus Hollyberry Manilow Port Royal Green Bush Aspenwood Chapel Park Founders Magnetic Sandyhook Irondale Klondike Roxanne Harrington Edgar Woods Fisherville Abitibi Goldwood Mintwood Hollyberry Canongate CLUB Cabernet Turbine 400 Crispin MILLIKENMILLIKEN Breanna Eagleview Pennmarric BLACK CREEK Carpenter Grove River BLACK CREEK West North Albany Tarbert Select Lillian Signal Hill Hill Signal Highbridge Arran Markbrook Barmac Wheelwright Cherrystone Birchway Yellow Strawberry Hills Strawberry Select Steinway Rossdean Bestview Freshmeadow Belinda Eagledance BordeauxBrunello Primula Garyray G. ROSS Fontainbleau Cherrystone Ockwell Manor Chianti Cabernet Laureleaf Shenstone Torresdale Athabaska Limestone Regis Robinter Lambeth Wintermute WOODLANDS PIONEER Russfax Creekside Michigan . Husband EAST Reesor Plowshare Ian MacDonald Nevada Grenbeck ROWNTREE MILLS PARK Blacksmith
    [Show full text]
  • Volume 5 Has Been Updated to Reflect the Specific Additions/Revisions Outlined in the Errata to the Environmental Project Report, Dated November, 2017
    DISCLAIMER AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY This Revised Final Environmental Project Report – Volume 5 has been updated to reflect the specific additions/revisions outlined in the Errata to the Environmental Project Report, dated November, 2017. As such, it supersedes the previous Final version dated October, 2017. The report dated October, 2017 (“Report”), which includes its text, tables, figures and appendices) has been prepared by Gannett Fleming Canada ULC (“Gannett Fleming”) and Morrison Hershfield Limited (“Morrison Hershfield”) (“Consultants”) for the exclusive use of Metrolinx. Consultants disclaim any liability or responsibility to any person or party other than Metrolinx for loss, damage, expense, fines, costs or penalties arising from or in connection with the Report or its use or reliance on any information, opinion, advice, conclusion or recommendation contained in it. To the extent permitted by law, Consultants also excludes all implied or statutory warranties and conditions. In preparing the Report, the Consultants have relied in good faith on information provided by third party agencies, individuals and companies as noted in the Report. The Consultants have assumed that this information is factual and accurate and has not independently verified such information except as required by the standard of care. The Consultants accept no responsibility or liability for errors or omissions that are the result of any deficiencies in such information. The opinions, advice, conclusions and recommendations in the Report are valid as of the date of the Report and are based on the data and information collected by the Consultants during their investigations as set out in the Report. The opinions, advice, conclusions and recommendations in the Report are based on the conditions encountered by the Consultants at the site(s) at the time of their investigations, supplemented by historical information and data obtained as described in the Report.
    [Show full text]
  • Toronto Has No History!’
    ‘TORONTO HAS NO HISTORY!’ INDIGENEITY, SETTLER COLONIALISM AND HISTORICAL MEMORY IN CANADA’S LARGEST CITY By Victoria Jane Freeman A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History University of Toronto ©Copyright by Victoria Jane Freeman 2010 ABSTRACT ‘TORONTO HAS NO HISTORY!’ ABSTRACT ‘TORONTO HAS NO HISTORY!’ INDIGENEITY, SETTLER COLONIALISM AND HISTORICAL MEMORY IN CANADA’S LARGEST CITY Doctor of Philosophy 2010 Victoria Jane Freeman Graduate Department of History University of Toronto The Indigenous past is largely absent from settler representations of the history of the city of Toronto, Canada. Nineteenth and twentieth century historical chroniclers often downplayed the historic presence of the Mississaugas and their Indigenous predecessors by drawing on doctrines of terra nullius , ignoring the significance of the Toronto Purchase, and changing the city’s foundational story from the establishment of York in 1793 to the incorporation of the City of Toronto in 1834. These chroniclers usually assumed that “real Indians” and urban life were inimical. Often their representations implied that local Indigenous peoples had no significant history and thus the region had little or no history before the arrival of Europeans. Alternatively, narratives of ethical settler indigenization positioned the Indigenous past as the uncivilized starting point in a monological European theory of historical development. i i iii In many civic discourses, the city stood in for the nation as a symbol of its future, and national history stood in for the region’s local history. The national replaced ‘the Indigenous’ in an ideological process that peaked between the 1880s and the 1930s.
    [Show full text]
  • AECOM Report 1.Dot
    Environmental Assessment chapter 3. description of the potentially affected environment 3. Description of the Potentially Affected Environment This chapter is divided into four different sections which describe different components of the baseline or existing environmental conditions. The first section describes the river characteristics which will influence the development of alternatives. This information has been separated from the remaining description of the natural environment such that some emphasis can be given to those aspects of the existing environment that are driving the development of alternatives for the DMNP. The second section describes the remaining components of the natural environment: fish and fish habitat, terrestrial vegetation, and wildlife. The third section addresses components related to soils and groundwater contamination. The final section describes socio-economic components: land use, air quality and noise, archaeology, aboriginal interests, and built heritage. 3.1 River Characteristics in the Project and Impact Assessment Study Areas The Don Watershed possesses a dendretic drainage pattern that flows southward for 38 kilometres (as the crow flies) from the Oak Ridges Moraine (ORM) to the Inner Harbour of Toronto. The Don possesses two major branches (the East and West Don), each consisting of many smaller sub-watershed systems, such as but not limited to Taylor Massey Creek, Wilket Creek, Patterson Creek and Pomona Creek. The confluence of the East and West Branches occurs approximately 6 kilometres upstream of the Impact Assessment Study Area. Downstream from the confluence, the sub-watershed is known as the Lower Don and includes all of the Don Narrows until reaching the Keating Channel. The entire watershed area or drainage basin of the Don River is approximately 360 square kilometres (Figure 3−1).
    [Show full text]
  • Humber River Watershed Plan Pathways to a Healthy Humber June 2008
    HUMBER RIVER WATERSHED PLAN PAThwAYS TO A HEALTHY HUMBER JUNE 2008 Prepared by: Toronto and Region Conservation © Toronto and Region Conservation 2008 ISBN: 978-0-9811107-1-4 www.trca.on.ca 5 Shoreham Drive, Toronto, Ontario M3N 1S4 phone: 416-661-6600 fax: 416-661-6898 HUMBER RIVER WATERSHED PLAN PATHWAYS TO A HEALTHY HUMBER JUNE 2008 Prepared by: Toronto and Region Conservation i Humber River Watershed Plan, 2008 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Humber River Watershed Plan—Pathways to a Healthy Humber—was written by Suzanne Barrett, edited by Dean Young and represents the combined effort of many participants. Appreciation and thanks are extended to Toronto and Region Conservation staff and consultants (listed in Appendix F) for their technical support and input, to government partners for their financial support and input, and to Humber Watershed Alliance members for their advice and input. INCORPORATED 1850 Humber River Watershed Plan, 2008 ii HUMBER RIVER WATERSHED PLAN PATHWAYS TO A HEALTHY HUMBER EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Humber River watershed is an extraordinary resource. It spans 903 square kilometres, from the headwaters on the Niagara Escarpment and Oak Ridges Moraine down through fertile clay plains to the marshes and river mouth on Lake Ontario. The watershed provides many benefits to the people who live in it. It is a source of drinking water drawn from wells or from Lake Ontario. Unpaved land absorbs water from rain and snowfall to replenish groundwater and streams and reduce the negative impacts of flooding and erosion. Healthy aquatic and terrestrial habitats support diverse communities of plants and animals. Agricultural lands provide local sources of food and green spaces provide recreation opportunities.
    [Show full text]
  • Highland Creek Watershed
    WHAT ARE THE WATERSHED’S HOW CAN WE ENHANCE THE WATERSHED? WHERE ARE WE? KEY ISSUES? Highland Creek What can you do? • Plant native trees and shrubs on your property. WATERSHED • Reduce or eliminate the use of deicing salt, pesticides, and fertilizers Report Card 2018 which can contaminate water. • Volunteer for community tree plantings, litter pick-ups, or other stewardship events: trca.ca/get-involved • Read the Creek Connect blog: highlandcreekconnect.ca Toronto and Region Conservation Authority THE SALMON FESTIVAL AT HIGHLAND CREEK Other Ontario Conservation Authorities Many residents are not aware that there are salmon in many Toronto region rivers. The What is a watershed? Salmon Festival, hosted at Morningside Park A watershed is an area of land, drained by a creek or stream into a each autumn, provides an opportunity for local river, which drains into a body of water such as a lake. Everything in residents to view the salmon migration and Stormwater Runoff a watershed is connected. Our actions upstream affect conditions connect with the beautiful natural ecosystem downstream. • Water from rain or snow runs off hard surfaces like pavement into found in Highland Creek. nearby streams. thesalmonfestival.ca • The high water flows associated with stormwater results in streambank erosion and increased flooding during storm events. GRADING What is a watershed What local actions are planned? A Excellent • Stormwater is also associated with poor water quality because it report card? carries sediments and contaminants directly into the river system. Highland Greening Strategy B Good Ontario’s Conservation Authorities TRCA and the City of Toronto are currently developing the Highland • Stormwater carries chloride from road salt to streams, ponds, and lakes.
    [Show full text]
  • Attachment 1: Table of Projects Being Planned Under the ERMP in 2021
    Attachment 1: Table of projects being planned under the ERMP in 2021 Municipality Ward Project Name Portfolio 2021 Project Status City of Brampton 2 Wegneast Valley Erosion Control Project Region of Peel Erosion Control & Infrastructure Protection Construction City of Brampton 7 I-360/I-361 Region of Peel Erosion Control & Infrastructure Protection Study, Planning or Design York Region Streambank Infrastructure Erosion Control City of Markham 1 German Mills Settlers Park Sites 2-3 Sanitary Infrastructure Protection Management Program Study, Planning or Design City of Markham 4 70 Main Street South Erosion Control Project TRCA Maintenance & Other Hazards (York Region) Construction City of Mississauga 5 Brandon Gate Park - Bank Stabilization Project Region of Peel Erosion Control & Infrastructure Protection Construction City of Mississauga 5 I-700 Region of Peel Erosion Control & Infrastructure Protection Study, Planning or Design York Region Streambank Infrastructure Erosion Control City of Richmond Hill 5 Patterson Creek I-066, I-067, I-065, I-064, P-102 Management Program Post-Construction York Region Streambank Infrastructure Erosion Control City of Richmond Hill 5 Patterson Creek near North Richvale Sanitary Infrastructure Protection Management Program Construction City of Richmond Hill 5 Patterson Valley South Richvale Erosion Hazards Fee For Service Post-Construction City of Toronto 1 22-24 Bucksburn Road Erosion Control and Slope Stabilization Project Valley Erosion Hazards Study, Planning or Design City of Toronto 1 Hadrian Drive
    [Show full text]