Preliminary Environmental and Social Impact Assessment – Onimiki Hydroelectric Project FINAL REPORT - VERSION REVISED AUGUST 2018 0 Preliminary Environmental and Social Impact Assessment - Onimiki Hydroelectric Project Final report - Version revised August 2018 PRODUCTION TEAM August 2018 version Camilla Arbour, M.Sc. candidate Project Manager (OBVT) Marilou Girard Thomas, Geographer, M.Sc. Executive Director (OBVT) Authors Pierre Rivard, Eng., Ph.D. Executive Director (OBVT) Camilla Arbour, M.Sc. candidate Project Manager (OBVT) Design graphique Ruth Pelletier Organisme de bassin versant du Témiscamingue (OBVT), 2017, Preliminary Environmental and Social Impact Assessment - Onimiki Hydroelectric Project, Final report - Version revised August 2018, 86 pages. 1 Table of Contents List of figures ................................................................................................................................. 5 List of tables ................................................................................................................................... 6 Glossary and important definitions ............................................................................................ 7 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 9 1.1 Mandate of the OBVT ................................................................................................. 10 1.2 Warning .............................................................................................................................. 12 2 Information about the Onimiki hydroelectric project ....................................................... 13 2.1 History of hydroelectric development ..................................................................... 13 2.2 An opportunity for a community project ................................................................ 13 2.3 Objectives of the Onimiki project ............................................................................. 14 2.4 Identification and location of infrastructure on the territory ................................ 14 2.4.1 Inventory and use of dams ................................................................................ 14 2.5 Description of Onimiki project infrastructure ......................................................... 19 2.5.1 Background .......................................................................................................... 19 2.5.2 Description of infrastructure to be built ........................................................... 21 3 Location and description of the various environments ................................................. 21 3.1 Population .................................................................................................................... 21 3.2 Territory use ................................................................................................................ 24 3.2.1 Lake Kipawa ........................................................................................................ 24 3.2.2 Gordon Creek and other lakes .......................................................................... 24 3.2.3 Lake Timiskaming .............................................................................................. 24 3.2.4 Opémican National Park ................................................................................... 25 3.2.5 Existing public infrastructures .......................................................................... 25 3.2.6 Tourism-related services and companies......................................................... 26 3.2.7 Throughput .......................................................................................................... 27 3.3 Natural environments ................................................................................................ 28 3.3.1 Intermediate forebay, Gordon Creek ............................................................... 28 3.3.2 Aquatic animals in Gordon Creek .................................................................... 29 2 3.3.3 Forebay, Lake Kipawa ....................................................................................... 30 3.3.4 Floral species ....................................................................................................... 32 3.3.5 Tailbay, Lake Timiskaming ............................................................................... 32 3.4 Information about the hydrodynamics of water bodies ........................................ 34 4 Environmental impacts ...................................................................................................... 36 4.1 Literature review ......................................................................................................... 36 4.1.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 36 4.1.2 Main findings of the literature review ............................................................. 36 4.1.3 Effects on the aquatic environment .................................................................. 38 4.1.4 Effects on invertebrates ...................................................................................... 40 4.1.5 Ecological flow .................................................................................................... 45 4.1.6 Aesthetic flow ...................................................................................................... 46 4.1.7 Advantages of hydroelectric projects ............................................................... 46 4.1.8 Disadvantages of hydroelectric projects .......................................................... 47 4.2 Social acceptability ...................................................................................................... 47 4.2.1 Community involvement ................................................................................... 54 5 Description of the biophysical environment ....................................................................... 56 5.1 Water quality ............................................................................................................... 56 5.1.1 Gordon Creek ........................................................................................................... 56 5.1.2 Lake Timiskaming .............................................................................................. 58 5.1.3 Tee Lake ............................................................................................................... 60 5.1.4 Lake Kipawa ........................................................................................................ 60 5.1.5 Upstream of Lake Kipawa ................................................................................. 61 5.2 Water levels and flows of lakes and rivers ............................................................. 62 5.2.1 Minimum flow on the Kipawa River ............................................................... 63 5.2.2 Minimum flow in Gordon Creek ...................................................................... 65 5.3 Plant species ................................................................................................................ 67 5.4 The landscape .............................................................................................................. 67 5.5 Noise ............................................................................................................................. 68 3 5.6 During construction .................................................................................................... 69 5.7 Mitigation measures ................................................................................................... 69 5.8 Accounting for climate change .................................................................................. 71 5.9 Project monitoring ...................................................................................................... 71 5.10 Main results of the preliminary environmental assessment ................................. 72 6 Social impacts ...................................................................................................................... 75 6.1 Consultations .............................................................................................................. 75 6.2 Concerns....................................................................................................................... 75 6.3 Preliminary list of stakeholders involved in the Onimiki project ......................... 77 6.4 Similarities with Val-Jalbert project in Lac-Saint-Jean .......................................... 78 7 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 79 References .................................................................................................................................... 81 4 List of figures Figure 1: Number of dams on the territory of the watershed, according to different uses – internal compilation (CEHQ, 2017) .......................................................................................... 16 Figure 2: Dam uses ..................................................................................................................... 18 Figure 3: Power