Environment Committee Summer Report - 2010
Posted by Co-Chair Jim Gilmore, July 2010
Our Muskoka Ratepayer’s Slogan “Muskoka Ours to Care For” sums up our philosophy. Our lakes and forests, the jewels of Muskoka’s crown of beauty and attraction are always under threat in many ways. One of our major ongoing concerns is the quality of water that finds its way into our lakes from faulty septic systems (large and small), lagoons, landfill garbage leachate and developers still discharge their semi-treated sewage directly into the lake. This Committee identifies Environmental issues and tracks progress toward solutions. Some of the concerns and positive results we are involved in on your behalf:
- Lake health and water quality
- Sewage disposal irregularities, septic systems monitoring
- Storm water run-off, wetlands, watershed management
- Meetings with Steve Taylor district MNR on water levels, Bala dam concerns
- Involvement at Freshwater Summit in Bracebridge June 2010
- By-laws to mitigate environmental issues i.e. tree cutting (enforcement)
- Monitoring environmental impacts related to commercial development
- Alternatives to land fill garbage – i.e. waste–to energy plants
- Dark sky lighting Torrance Barrens achievement – future goals
- By-laws to mitigate environmental issues i.e. tree cutting, quarries, blasting
- Required regulations for bottled drinking water
Roger Crawford, an Engineer and Environmental Specialist on our committee, has been reviewing activity related to the Port Carling sewage treatment facility expansion. Over the winter the District has connected infiltration and inflow into the sewer system, thereby greatly reducing flow into the sewage treatment plant and reducing the hydraulic load. Meanwhile, final design is proceeding well for the main sewage pumping station on West Street, and also the plant itself.
We would welcome expanded involvement of the community in our environmental concerns, through expanded membership in MRA or as a member on our committee.
Lake System Health
By Louise Cragg - Environment Committee Co-Chair
Good quality water is the cornerstone to maintaining our wonderful lake area. The Lake System Health Report is available from the district (see www.muskoka.on.ca). The District of Muskoka does an excellent job monitoring 190 sites on 161 lakes on a rotational basis (64 in 2009). Muskoka’s water quality is generally good. In the report, 37 Lakes/Bays are considered “over threshold” (15 in our township) which means “ higher than healthy” phosphorus levels were present in that particular lake. To see the data for your lake go to www.muskokawaterweb.ca. In the Muskoka Lakes Township the “over threshold” areas that were indicated in the 2009 report included: Clear Lake, Dark Lake, High Lake, Cox Bay (Lake Joseph), High Lake, Leonard Lake, Long Lake, Medora Lake, Mirror Lake, Nutt Lake, Brackenrig and East Portage Bay (Lake Rosseau), Rutter Lake, Silver Lake, Stewart Lake and Three Mile Lake.
The District and Township have been giving special attention to Lake Joseph, a high sensitivity lake, whose phosphorus levels are increasing, close to “over threshold” levels. They have added more water sampling / testing and a detailed shoreline analysis. Septic inspections have been done recently for all of these lakes. In the full Septic review for Lake Joseph, it was found that a little over 10% required action. Thanks goes to Sandy Bos Building Inspector (Septic Systems) for the township for the statistics in this report plus the effort his team makes to keep our lakes healthy. The District’s Lake System Health Bylaw imposes some development controls for high sensitivity and “over threshold” lakes and bays based on phosphorus readings. Good water quality is critical for maintaining the market value of our properties.