Keeping the Great Lakes ‘great’

They are five bodies of water known around the country but pollution, invasive species and physical changes along the shorelines threaten to destroy them.

That’s why the federal government created the Great Lakes Sustainability Fund in 2000 and recently announced more than $2.8 million from that fund will go toward projects that restore Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOC).

AOCs vary in geographical size and are defined as regions with “a number of issues ranging from polluted water, to lack of access to water by people, lost fish and wildlife populations and contaminated sentiments,” says Tys Theysmeyer, Head of Natural Lands with the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) in Hamilton, Ont.

Some of the Great Lakes cleanup involves restoring wetlands after invasive species and sewage destroyed them.

Of the 43 AOCs identified in Canada and the United States by the Water Quality Board of the International Joint Commission in 1985, 17 were in Canada. This funding will go toward 43 projects in the 14 AOCs that still need to be rehabilitated to help bring them back to their original state.

RBG is an organization partnering with the Bay Area Implementation Team to oversee and implement remediation strategies for the Hamilton Harbour AOC, which includes the Ontario cities of Burlington and Hamilton.

“Now that there is funding, sewage researchers and other interested parties like Environment Canada will come up with standards to make sure water isn’t further polluted,” says Theysmeyer.

Three projects in the area encompassing the Hamilton Harbour AOC exemplify broader trends in cleanups, he says.

The first is Randle Reef, which is a ridge out in the bay covered in coal tar so there’s a project to remove it. The second is a wastewater treatment plan upgrade for the city of Hamilton and the third is Paradise Fishway that installed a carp barrier to stop them from getting into the wetlands, but also allows smaller fish to move through the barrier.

The Sustainability Fund projects focus on key areas such as “fish and wildlife habitat restoration, contaminated sediment remediation, landowner stewardship, and control of pollution from municipal wastewaters and rural runoff,” said federal Environment Minister Peter Kent in a speech announcing the funding on March 7 in Burlington.

Challenges facing the Hamilton Harbour include “old city construction and infrastructure and old industry which released a whole lot of interesting chemicals,” says Theysmeyer.

An influx of common carp crushed the wetlands because of their weight and density, resulting in a loss of wetland, he says, adding that funding will pay for for a barrier to prevent further damage. 

Identifiable success

Collingwood Harbour, Severn Sound and Wheatly Harbour are three of the original AOCs no longer listed because of improvements to water quality and wildlife in the areas, according to Environment Canada.

“The existing people didn’t cause any of the problems and they need that investment. We need less spending making up for past errors and move forward with a clean solution.”

How does an AOC become de-listed? 

“There is a checklist of goals and objectives which helps with the delisting process. Once those have been achieved and once a committee of experts accepts the finalization of the remediation programs, then it is delisted,” says Linda Campbell, an environmental studies professor at Queen’s University in Kingston

She says it’s not always that simple. 

“Often issues and new contaminants come to light during the remediation process not on the delisting checklist, and often AOC managers must make a difficult choice of how to manage funding. The new funding program helps with this dilemma.”

It may take Hamilton Harbour more than 10 years to become de-listed.

“The scale of contaminants on the bottom is enormous. First you have to think how to do it, then you have to get the money and then you actually have to do it. We’re at that stage now,” says Theysmeyer.

This funding will be used on many different things this year, he says.

“It will go towards operating that carp barrier and a lot of monitoring of the state of the environment…community involvement and activities.”

Burlington MP Mike Wallace, Minister of Environment Peter Kent, Head of Natural Lands at Royal Botanical Gardens Tys Theysmeyer, and CEO of the RBG Mark Runciman in Burlington, Ontario.

Need to ‘get on top of it’

This funding enables the government and third parties doing the clean up to “go after the areas of concern before they become significantly damaged environments” and to “bring them back to their original state,” says Mike Wallace, MP for Burlington.

Campbell says previous funding from both Canada and the US governments to remediate and restore areas may not do enough in the long term. 

“In some cases the funding, while a tremendous help, was not sufficient to enable the Area of Concern to reach the point where they can be used by humans, wildlife and fish without increased risk to health. This funding helps to bridge this gap, especially in terms of impacts not originally identified when the Area of Concern was first set up, such as bacterial contamination.”

Funding is essential to clean up past problems, says Theysmeyer.

“The existing people didn’t cause any of the problems and they need that investment. We need less spending making up for past errors and move forward with a clean solution.”

Cleaning up the area around the Niagara River

A non-profit group that cleans up the area around the Niagara River, the Niagara Restoration Council, used funding from the federal government’s Great Lakes Sustainability Fund for their fish barrier project in the watershed flowing into the river. Between 2001 and 2010, the group removed some of the physical barriers to fish migration and sediment transport by replacing broken culverts and installing new bridges. Capital News Online spoke with Corey Burant, the group’s environmental project manager.

Photos courtesy Niagara Restoration Council

Music courtesy Pat Lepoidevin