Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA), Ontario Environment Network (OEN), and Ontario Headwaters Institute (OHI) announce dates, locations, and local partners for community discussions on protecting Ontario’s water.
See Poster for details on a meeting near you:
Waterscape-Dates-and-Registration-Jan-31“There are no real heroes or villains in a story like this,
only people trying to look after their families.”
DREW HAYDEN TAYLOR
Tarragon Theatre is pleased to announce the addition of award-winning Ojibway playwright Drew Hayden Taylor to the 2017/18 season. His play Cottagers and Indians is a commissioned work that takes a sincere and pragmatic look at conflicts between native traditional water usage and property owners up in cottage country who are looking to enjoy an undisturbed summer getaway.
Rice fields on Pigeon Lake. – Metroland file photo
KAWARTHA LAKES – Waterfront homeowners on Pigeon, Chemong and Buckhorn Lakes say struggles with navigation, along with the noise coming from airboat rice harvesters, have led to “an ongoing nightmare” for too long now.
They’ve convinced the Township of Selwyn to act. Now Kawartha Lakes is getting in on that too.
Full Story from Kawartha Lakes This Week here.
It is a response from the government to the many letters including one from NPLA concerning the regulation establishing a moratorium on the issuance of new or increasing permits to take water for water bottling.
Leo Luong, Manager
Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change
Climate Change and Environmental Policy Division
Land and Water Policy Branch
40 St. Clair Avenue West
Floor 10
Toronto Ontario
M4V 1M2
Re: Regulation Proposal Notice – A regulation establishing a moratorium on the issuance of new or increasing permits to take water for water bottling (EBR Registry # 012-8783).
Dear Mr. Luong:
The North Pigeon Lake Association (NPLA) is located in the Municipality of Trent Lakes and the City of Kawartha Lakes. NPLA supports actions that preserve and promote the welfare of the shoreline and the waters of north Pigeon Lake, its catchment area, and more broadly across Ontario. We promote good government, including environmental stewardship.
NPLA supports the Ministry’s proposal for a two-year moratorium on new or increased permits to take water and appreciates the opportunity for public comment via posting the proposal notice on the Environmental Bill of Rights Registry.
NPLA is pleased that the proposal acknowledges that parts of the province targeted for population growth have concerns related to future water security and there is, therefore, a need, to prioritize water-taking uses. We support stricter policies and regulations for the water bottling industry.
With respect to the Actions planned during the moratorium, NPLA offers these specific comments: Continue reading »
Dear Mr. Simmons,
I have received your correspondence over the past couple of weeks. Thank you.
I appreciate the effort taken to track me down as Canada Post had changed my address from the one I gave at the public meeting Friday Jan 16, 2015. You even emailed me the Return to Sender envelope. It speaks volumes that you took the time and are taking concerns of citizens seriously and you take communication with local citizens seriously. The more that people are aware by direct correspondence, the more residents can be proactive rather than reactive. There is a respect element also of you contacting us all directly rather than putting all of the onus on the citizens, to keep abreast of all information regarding pits and quarries in Trent Lakes. Thank you again. I am President of North Pigeon Lake Association (NPLA) and our area of membership has expanded to include the watershed. We have members who live on Bass Lake. I am also a resident on Bass Lake Rd.
It is difficult and upsetting for many of us who moved up to this area for peace, quiet and tranquil sounds of nature to now be experiencing noise caused by aggregate extraction. Hmm I wonder how many quarry/pit owners actually live near their businesses. That would be an interesting statistic but I digress………
After reading your correspondence I have questions for Shawn Trimper from Eastern Region. I wonder if I can have a copy of the Addendum to the Hydrogeological Assessment to support the Site Plan Amendment. I am not sure it will answer my questions but I am wanting to know about the monitoring program of the test wells. What are the parameters and objectives. Who will be looking at the results and doing the analysis? I would hope they would be made public.
Also when you say that the monitoring needs to be done two years prior to any dewatering of the quarry site …… does this mean that quarrying can be done until the water table is involved and then the two years of monitoring starts?
Could I also have a copy of the Noise Feasibility Study please. Where I live I hear the quarrying now and I am approx 4 km away. I know that friends and NPLA members on Bass Lake and Silver Lake experience more noise and dust then we do down here on Bass Lake Rd.
I respect the time you have taken to work with local clubs.
Please let me know when the Citizens’ Liaison Committee will be set up.
I am pleased that Trent Lakes has requested another information meeting this summer as our cottages will be here and people who leave for the winter will be back. I am hoping there will be a representative from the MNRF there to answer questions.
Regards,
Janet Klein
President NPLA & resident on Bass Lake Rd.
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Parks Canada Issues a Water Management Update for the Trent-Severn Basin
On November 17th the Parks Canada posted a Water Management Update for the entire Trent – Severn watershed (click here) noting low water levels across the reservoir area and the risk that levels may decline further. The Update confirms that all of the reservoir dams have been at their winter set levels since the first of October. However lake levels have continued to fall because of the lack of normal fall rainfall. The flow in both the Gull and Burnt Rivers is also very low. The Update further notes that lake levels may continue to fall and residents should be aware of the risk of very low water levels this winter unless we begin to see significant rainfall.
The extreme drought conditions that persisted throughout the summer have now continued through the fall. Haliburton has received only 170mm of precipitation since the first of September compared to a normal of 316mm. 44mm of that total fell on one day in mid-October so in fact the drought is even more severe than the totals show. So far through three weeks of November we have received only 18mm of precipitation compared to a normal of 87mm. In a normal year we expect the reservoirs to reach their lowest levels in mid to late October and then stabilize or recover somewhat in late fall into winter. This year we have experienced a continuing decline in levels on most reservoirs and in some cases levels are approaching the 30 year minimum levels. This situation is a threat to the lake trout spawn and may result in levels that will impact water intakes in shallow water. Because there is very little or no inflow to the system there is no action which can be taken to stop the decline.
The Weather Network Winter Forecast
On November 21, The Weather Network posted their long range forecast for the next three months (click here). The forecast is for below normal temperatures and above normal precipitation for central Ontario. Unless we get significant rainfall in the early winter we may not see the reservoir levels rebound until the spring melt. The Great Lakes are warmer than normal and as a result lake effect rainfall and particularly snowfall events may extend from Georgian Bay across the reservoir areas this fall and winter depending on wind direction. We definitely need above average precipitation this winter to restore the water balance across the Trent basin and then allow the reservoirs to be replenished in the spring runoff.