A plan to address water supply, water quality and flooding issues in the Grand River watershed has been endorsed by water management agencies from all levels of government and is ready for implementation.
The Grand River Watershed Water Management Plan has been five years in the making. It’s a product of a collaborative partnership of municipalities, provincial ministries, the federal government, Six Nations of the Grand River and the Grand River Conservation Authority.
Copies of the plan and more information are available at www.grandriver.ca/wmp .
Representatives of the plan partners met Thursday at the GRCA head office in Cambridge to mark the completion of the plan and to discuss its implementation.
Sandra Cooke, the GRCA’s senior water quality supervisor and the coordinator of the project said “this plan charts the path forward together.”
The plan includes 43 recommendations and 165 action items that the partners have already agreed to undertake. The action items respond to the three key challenges facing the watershed today: high population growth, extensive agriculture and a changing climate.
As the action items are implemented there will be improvements in water quality in the Grand River and its tributaries. In addition, that will also have a positive impact on the health of Lake Erie because the Grand is one of the largest sources of nutrient pollution in the eastern basin of the lake.
In addition, federal and provincial ministries have signed letters pledging their support. Letters came from Environment Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Rural Affairs, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.
Early in the 20th century, the Grand River system was severely degraded and prone to frequent flooding. It was sometimes referred to as an open sewer. Over the past 80 years, the implementation of a series of water management plans has led to a significant improvement in the health of the river system. The last plan was published in 1982. The new plan builds on that document and brings it up to date to address 21st century pressures.
The new plan is a compilation of action items that the partners have already voluntarily agreed to carry out.
For example, several municipalities have already planned significant investments in their sewage treatment plants that will result in cleaner water leaving the plants; many have also adopted an approach to improve the treatment processes in the plants to improve effluent quality. Municipalities have also undertaken water conservation programs to reduce the demand on the river and groundwater systems. The strategies the GRCA uses to manage its reservoirs will continue provide sufficient flows for water supply, wastewater and environmental needs into the future as well as reduce flood damages.
The development of the plan cost about $2 million. About $900,000 came from by the provincial government through its Showcasing Water Innovations Program which development of ideas that can be shared across Ontario and beyond. Environment Canada contributed $120,000. The rest was paid by the GRCA.
