The GRCA,GRCA, Municipalities,Municipalities, Provincialprovincial E E Wawatershedtershed Isis a Bigbig Aandnd Busybusy Pplace.Lace
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Fall 2011 Watershed Report Environmental news for the residents of the Grand River watershed • Distribution 210,000 copies forfor Goals the Grand WhatWhat does the futurefuture hold forfor the GrandGrandand River?River? hat’shat’s thethe questionquestion atat thethe heartheart ofof a ee WaterWWaater ManagementManagement PlanPlan willwill outlineoutline thethe actionsactions three-yearthree-year projectproject toto developdevelop a newnew WaterWWaater waterwater managementmanagement agenciesagencies willwill needneed toto taketakkee toto T ManagementManagement PlanPlan forffoor thethe GrandGrand RiverRiver addressaddress thosethose issuesissues andand others.others. ee planplan isis scheduledscheduled watershed.watershed. toto bebe completedcompleted byby thethe springspring ofof 2013 andand isis beingbeing developeddeveloped byby thethe GRCA,GRCA, municipalities,municipalities, provincialprovincial ee watershedwatershed isis a bigbig andand busybusy place.place. AndAnd it’sit’s agencies,agencies, federalffeederal departments,departments, FirstFirst NationsNations andand others.others. goinggoing toto getget busierbusier asas thethe populationpopulation rushesrushes towardtoward oneone millionmillion people.people. ButBut likelike anyany plan,plan, itit needsneeds goalsgoals andand targets:targets: youyou needneed somesome wayway toto measuremeasure wherewhere youyyoou are,are, wherewhere you’reyou’re WillWill wewe havehaavve enoughenough waterwater fromffrrom surfacesurface andand goinggoing andand howhow quicklyquickklly you’reyou’re gettinggetting there.there. groundwatergroundwater sourcessources toto meetmeet thethe needsneeds ofof growinggrowing cities,cities, cutting-edgecutting-edge businessesbusinesses andand productiveproductive farms?farms? WillWill thethe riverriver systemsystem bebe ableable toto Continued on Page 3 dealdeal withwith increasingincreasing owsows fromffrrom sewagesewage treatmenttreatment plants?plants? WillWill climateclimate changechange makemakkee oodingooding worse?worse? 20112011 20122012 20132013 Followingthe Huntingfor Building SoftPath buriedwater alegacy Anewapproachtowater Ateamofscientistshas DonandJanetVallery conservationcouldhelp beenexploringanunder - havespentyearsworking communitiesmeettheir groundworldinthe torestorenaturalareas futureneeds. searchforaburiedriver neartheirpropertyon valley. LakeBelwood Page 6 Page 8 Page 12 The GRCA water gauge. Fences along HowToReachUs the sides of creeks stopped cows from entering the Joe Farwell ChiefAdministrativeOfficer AMessage Keith Murch AssistantCAO, water. Farmers had built SecretaryTreasurer FromtheChair new manure storage. The Shunpiking : Shunning turnpikes, touring back Rural Water Quality By Mail: GRCA Program supplied the 400ClydeRoad,Box729 roads. Cambridge,Ontario arren Stauch, a member of the GRCA funds. N1R5W6 board, shunpikes tourists along the JaneMitchell The headwaters are By Phone: 519-621-2761 best of the Grand River. He took board Chair sometimes said to be locat - Direct Line: 519-621-2763+ext. W Salter,StauchandMitchell Toll Free: 1-866-900-4722 member Pat Salter and me on a hunt for the ed at Luther Marsh. The By Fax: 519-621-4844 headwaters of the Grand. Luther Dam helps control flooding. The marsh, like all wetlands, cleans Website: www.grandriver.ca We started just outside West Montrose with a view possibly painted water. Luther Marsh is known for its heronry and large numbers of E-mail general inquiries: migrating waterfowl. The marsh also contains grasslands to preserve [email protected] by Homer Watson. Cattle rested under a tree in a summer green field. The river meandered to the covered bridge in the distance. birds like the bobolink. Common 40 years ago, they are now rare. Outside business hours: Travelling along the back roads, we crossed historic iron and bow - The headwaters are actually near Shrigley. The source of a river is 519-621-2761andleavemessage string bridges, large and small. An osprey with a large fish in its mouth often imagined as a bubbling spring. The Grand starts in a wetland. (8:30a.m.-4:30p.m.MondaytoFriday, excludingholidays) flew over us. Unfortunately, the rural infrastructure deficit was evident. We returned along byways, though GRCA owned farmland that was Old concrete bridge rails missed chunks and were eroded to iron bars. originally purchased for a never-built West Montrose dam. A successful River Information Line: Many examples of water management popped up. We came across a shunpiking tour. 519-621-2763ext.2519 Planning and Permits: 519-621-2763ext.2230 River Conservation Authority. Conservation Areas: Other stories examine some of the issues being addressed by the Headoffice 519-621-2763ext.2250 AMessage study. The cover story outlines water objectives for the Grand River BelwoodLake(Fergus) 519-843-2979 system, which includes streams and rivers feeding into the Grand, as Brant(Brantford) 519-752-2040 FromtheCAO ByngIsland(Dunnville) 905-774-5755 well as the watershed’s groundwater resources. ConestogoLake(Drayton) 519-638-2873 n this issue of The Grand, we turn our atten - Managing demand for water is highlighted in a story about the Soft EloraGorge(Elora) 519-846-9742 tion to the work being done to develop an Path Approach. GuelphLake(Guelph) 519-824-5061 updated Water Management Plan for the Another story explains the work being done to improve the opera - LaurelCreek(Waterloo) 519-884-6620 I LutherMarsh(GrandValley) 519-928-2832 Grand River watershed. This project has its roots JoeFarwell tion of sewage treatment plants to reduce their impact on the river sys - PinehurstLake(Paris) 519-442-4721 in a 1982 study that examined the watershed and Chief Administrative tem. The story on wastewater optimization also outlines how the pro - Rockwood(Rockwood) 519-856-9543 made recommendations related to water quality, Officer gram can reduce operating costs. Shade’sMills(Cambridge) 519-621-3697 water quantity and flooding – issues that are still A story on the Dundas Buried Bedrock Valley study highlights the Reserve a campsite: important today. results of a three-year project to examine an ancient buried river valley, Byphone 1-877-558-GRCA(4722) The updated study will address these issues within the context of which might hold promise for future water supply. Online www.grandriver.ca 21st century challenges such as climate change and population growth. The Grand River watershed supports a complex, living ecosystem. To The goals of the plan are to ensure sustainable water supply for water - develop a plan for managing the water within our watershed is a signif - Nature Centres: Apps’Mill(Brantford) 519-752-0655 shed communities and ecosystems, to reduce potential flood damages, icant challenge, and it requires cooperation and participation from a GuelphLake 519-836-7860 and to improve water quality to maintain river health. The project is number of partners. As you read The Grand, I hope you gain a sense of LaurelCreek(Waterloo) 519-885-1368 led by a steering committee of representatives from watershed munici - that shared responsibility, and some insight into some of the projects Shade’sMills(Cambridge) 519-623-5573 palities, First Nations, provincial and federal ministries and the Grand that are under way. Taquanyah(Cayuga) 905-768-3288 Grand River Conservation Foundation Phone: 519-621-2763ext.2272 Themunicipalitywhereyouliveappoints 1-877-29-GRAND oneormorerepresentativestotheGRCA E-mail: [email protected] Whospeaksfor you? boardtooverseethebudgetandactivities The GRAND ispublishedtwiceayear oftheconservationauthority. bytheGRCA,anddistributedinnews - papers tohouseholdsintheGrand Riverwatershed.Additionalcopies Townships of Amaranth, East Regional Municipality of City of Guelph: County of Oxford (Blandford- available. Garafraxa, East Luther Grand Waterloo (Cambridge, Bob Bell, Maggie Laidlaw Blenheim, East Zorra-Tavistock, Letters and comments to: Valley, Melancthon, Southgate: Kitchener, North Dumfries, Town of North Perth, Township Norwich): Bruce Banbury DaveSchultz,GRCA Tom Nevills Waterloo, Wellesley, Wilmot and 400ClydeRoad,Box729 of Perth East: George Wicke City of Brantford: Cambridge,Ontario,N1R5W6 Woolwich): Les Armstrong, Todd Townships of Mapleton and Regional Municipality of Halton Robert Hillier, Vic Prendergast (519)621-2763,Ext.2273 Wellington North: Pat Salter Cowan, Jan d’Ailly (GRCA 2nd (GRCA 1st vice-chair) [email protected] vice-chair), Rob Deutschmann, (Halton Hills and Milton): Township of Centre Wellington: Jean Haalboom, Ross Kelterborn, Barry Lee County of Brant: Joanne Ross-Zuj Geoff Lorentz, Claudette Millar, City of Hamilton: Brian Coleman, Steve Schmitt Town of Erin, Townships of Jane Mitchell (GRCA chair), Jeanette Jamieson Haldimand and Norfolk Guelph/Eramosa and Puslinch: Warren Stauch Counties: Lorne Boyko, John Brennan Fred Morison Page 2 FALL 2011 • Watershed Report WATER MANAGEMENT PLAN GoalsfortheGrand Continued from Page 1 The Water Management Plan plans to recognize the role of the will include a set of targets and river in community life. the steps needed to meet those “People have been asked many targets. For example, it will times in the past several years include targets for the oxygen what they want to see” for the level in river water, which is a key river system and water resources, indicator of water quality. Other said Minshall. “So we started with targets will be set for water quali - what people have already told us.” ty, water quan - Sandra Cooke, tity and flood - senior water ing. quality supervi - However,