Wakeup call on water: the Oak Ridges Moraine in Adjala-Tos and New Tecumseth

SPECIAL REPORT on why there’s not enough water for both current residents and new development
By Sharon Yovanoff ROSSCORE October 17 2010
The Oak Ridges Moraine is 160 kilometres from east to west, from the Niagara Escarpment to past Rice Lake and Peterborough. We must think of the Moraine as an underground lake with rivers and creeks coming off it. Its watershed goes from Georgian Bay to Lake Ontario. Millions of people depend on the Moraine for their water, but have no idea that it exists, what its function is or its health. That includes all three levels of government. Without the water from the Moraine our lives would be dramatically different.
The Moraine is divided into North and South. Water going out of the South Moraine flows to Lake Ontario. The North flow goes to Georgian Bay, Alliston Aquifer and Lake Simcoe. The rivers and creeks that flow off the Moraine are divided in the same way. Simcoe County, in fact, has only a small fraction of the Northern Moraine but depends heavily on it and on another easterly section in East Gwillimbury. The Northern Moraine is mainly in Adjala-Tosorontio, with a fraction in New Tecumseth. It starts about five kilometres north of Highway 9 or about the 5th side road in Adjala. It then dramatically turns south in New Tec, passing under Tottenham and vanishes somewhere between the 3rd and 2nd line and turns into the Southern Moraine. The Northern Moraine pokes up as far as Loretto, but this is Rural Settlement.
The western part of the moraine goes as far north as Queensville in East Gwillimbury and as far south as Caledon, reaching two thirds of the way to Brampton. It is hard to calculate the watershed of the Moraine.
Only a tiny section on Yonge Street. in Richmond Hill has been extensively investigated, the water there calculated and its quantity known. It’s a long and costly process. Checking out the water flow at a well head with the standard 72-hour pump test is not an indicator of how much water is available. Politicians delude themselves into believing this is enough to go ahead. It isn’t.
Oak Ridges Moraine Act fails to protect the water
One of the main problems facing the Moraine is the Oak Ridges Moraine Act. The Act protects the trees, shrubs, weeds and dirt of the Moraine, but fails to protect the water. How any government could do this is mind-boggling. In 2001 the Conservatives were faced with a public that wanted to stop growth on this vital geographical feature and developers who wanted to build, and golf courses that claimed a dependency on the water there. So was the exclusion of the water on purpose?
STORM (Save The Oak Ridges Moraine), that had led the fight for the Moraine were shocked and horrified when ROSSCORE (Residents of South Simcoe Conserving Our Rural Roots) came to them saying that their Township, Adjala-Tosorontio, was taking water off Natural Core (see definition below) for new builds sitting just off the Moraine. They had no idea that this was possible.  After combing the Moraine and talking to Municipal governments, they discovered four areas that were already affected by this water taking. They are:
–Colgan (6 km. north-west of Highways 9 & 50)
–Aurora (down Yonge St. from Newmarket)
–Mount Albert (north-east of Newmarket) and
–Millbrook (north of Rice Lake and due west of Peterborough)
But there are 30 other locations we’ve noted that could come under developmental pressure to drain the moraine. Tottenham could definitely be one, if the 1,800 homes go in. The Loretto area in Adjala, is also vulnerable because of its proximity to the moraine to the west. Keenansville, also in Adjala which is now designated a Settlement Area, could be the next to see growth despite its water shortages. The Township would look to the Moraine again.
Newmarket has had water troubles for years, but has allowed uncontrolled growth for years..Its western boundaries sit next to Natural Core. At the present time , Newmarket has tapped into a well to the north, between Queensville and the Black River that feeds into Lake Simcoe. Queensville has yet to see a depletion in their water supply, but the river is dropping rapidly. It’s headwaters are on Natural Core.
The main problem on the Moraine is the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.
Provincial civil servants seem to know nothing about the Act, the Moraine, nor do they have any interest in acquainting themselves with the issues. And considering that they are supposedly the protector of the Moraine water, its troubling. They should be up on everything pertaining to water, since they give out the permits to take water.
The Province has divided the Moraine into five categories
1. Natural Core:  This is the key to the Moraine. It also holds the main body of water. It’s like the lake of the Moraine. It acts like a sponge, drinking in rain, and snow melt and holds it in varying types of aquifers, both deep and shallow, letting it out gradually to private wells, municipal wells, rivers , lakes and creeks, as well as  larger aquifers. The amount of water that the Moraine aquifers hold, depends on our rainfall and snow fall. If there is less water going into these aquifers we will be able to withdraw less – or that is how it should work.
This water can take up to a year to reach the shallow aquifers, but up to 25 to 50 years to reach the deeper ones. So the rain of today, after getting past the trees and plants, takes the available water on down to the aquifers. Taking an average journey down, the water will reach the deeper aquifers by 2035 for our use. Unfortunately, with our decreased rainfall and snow fall over a couple of decades, by 2035 we might have reached the limit of the capacity of the Moraine to supply us with water in Simcoe. We are the poster child of what not to do!
We all know our snow and rain has been diminishing. This affects the Natural Core Moraine aquifers greatly. The growth in the south, as bedroom communities for Toronto, has surged in the last 20 to 30 years, becoming a factor in our water shortages now. At first it was a house on a few acres in rural Adjala and New Tec. Then New Tec was inundated with developers who built subdivisions of hundreds of homes on the same few acres that maybe a dozen homes rurally were built on. All this has taken its toll. Fifty people living in rural South Simcoe take up a great deal less water than 1,200 people in a town. They also use water to wash cars and water grass where rural people know that they mustn’t put stress on their wells.
Now Adjala-Tos wants to do the same thing. The growth in South Simcoe of homes and golf courses has outstripped the Moraine’s ability to recharge. In most cases, this happened long before most of us ever heard of the Moraine or the governments at all levels acknowledged its existence and acted on the situation. Unfortunately, these same governments refuse to comply with the law or use common sense when the Moraine is involved.
Natural Core feeds the small streams, creeks and major rivers that spring out of the ground on Natural Core. There are 65 major creeks and rivers that come off the Moraine. These in turn feed larger bodies of water until you reach something like Georgian Bay, Lake Simcoe and Lake Ontario. It feeds the shallow and deep aquifers such as the Alliston Aquifer, of Site 41 fame, and the same one, the people of Adjala fought to save 25 years earlier at their end.  It was a perfectly good system until man showed up to accelerate its depletion by excessive use.
Building is now prohibited on Natural Core and there are stringent regulations as to what you, the resident, can do to the land and vegetation. This however, is not a law that pertains to the Townships, the County or even the Province! This discrepancy is a major problem, when the people who have the power don’t have to adhere to the laws of Ontario, but we do. Municipalities without any controls, bend to the will of developers, and developers through Townships get around the Moraine legislation too.
Members of the public can not build a free-standing structure on the land. They can however, if approved, build an attachment to an existing structure. They can not remove trees or drill on the land. They cannot excavate. How that affects people who need to replace their septic system is unknown. You can not remove a fallen tree on your property in the woods, even if it is a detriment to you or the surrounding forest. The attitude is contrary to rural life in Ontario, where you take care of dangerous fallen trees and do your best to protect the environment. This also pertains to the water. Rural residents understand that the water must be cared for and not abused. Governments don’t!
2. Natural Linkage: This is the second most important part of the Moraine. It links Natural Core to areas off the Moraine in Environmentally sensitive areas like a river bed or other areas within the Moraine. Often you will find that creeks and rivers flow under or through these areas. It can be very extensive as it is in Adjala. New Tec does contain a small fraction of it on the Northern Moraine, but most of it is in the South, below the 3rd, thus inaccessible to Tottenham.
Building is also prohibited on Natural Linkage, but a golf course like Woodington Lake can surround it. The excuse is that it was there before the Oak Ridges Moraine Act was enacted. Yet no regulations are imposed on it to preserve the Natural Linkage or the Moraine it sits on. It might as well be 1910 as 2010, for all the Province is concerned when it comes to golf courses.
Again there is a split between who can do what. Golf courses can and do, dig in these areas diverting the water in creeks and rivers, to huge man-made unlined ponds, which even before the Oak Ridges Moraine Act was passed was a no-no.  Why were they and not the public allowed to do this? Golf Courses are also allowed to take up to 10 per cent of the streams flow for irrigation. This could be from a tributary of a main creek, a creek, river, or a lake.
Their permits to take water are excessive! Most water guzzlers of every stripe get away with murder of the Moraine here. No one knows about it and it is not easily accessed. The MOE actually changes it website so often that it becomes harder to access who has applied for permits. In the first three years that BARCA (Ballycroy Area Rural Conservation Alliance) viewed this site, the MOE altered it seven times.  
How are the varying parties allowed to alter the laws on Natural Core and Linkage? Members of the public are fined or even jailed for doing what governments and sports facilities do. 
First off, the Oak Ridges Moraine Act was passed off to the Ministry of Housing and Municipal  Affairs, despite the fact that this law pertains to the environment.
Shuffled off to a ministry with no enivronmental expertise
It was as if this shuffle off to a ministry with no knowledge or experts pertaining to the environment, was deliberate. The water that is not protected under the ORM Act was passed off to the Ministry of Environment, who STORM thought would protect this vital resource. On one occasion I was told by a woman at the MOE, that she had never read the Moraine Act and knew little or nothing about it. She was the head of the permit-giving department in London. Until late 2009, London covered the permits for our area. It is now in Toronto.
It would seem that the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs only deals with this Act if members of the general public are about to alter the Moraine in these two Moraine areas. Outside of these two vital areas the Ministry, seem to turn a blind eye to what goes on in the other lesser three areas!  They also afppear to allow the Ministry of Environment, to break Oak Ridges Moraine laws.
The Ministry of Environment that governs the water on the Moraine makes sure that business gets the water they need off the Moraine, just because they are a business. They are extremely business-oriented. A farm that produces our food is not a business in the eyes of the MOE and thus does not need or could get a special permit for the water it needs. Farmers are considered private citizens who happen to have animals and they are therefore not entitled to a permit to get water even if their water source runs out. Grass on a golf course is more important. They create jobs. Seasonal and minimum-wage jobs, but that doesn’t matter! Farms just provide food. The fact that jobs to ship it, package it, and sell it , are created out of this vital non-business, doesn’t seem to come into the equation. Do the important people who play golf tip the scale in favour of golf courses?
This discrepancy has left rural Ontario at the MOE’s mercy and they have none. An example is the case in Colgan. Development came calling in early 2005 or 2004 to build 318 homes. By early 2005 or earlier a second developer came, wanting to build hundreds of homes , so that the two developments were adding well over 900 homes to a hamlet of 71 homes, a church and a small school. The public were not aware of anything until May of 2006 and the full extent of the 2 developments did not become apparent until August, 2006. As of 2010 and with alterations to the developments plans, for the fifth time, the number of homes is down to 856, but a strip mall and a 170 bed nursing home had been added to the mix.
What has this to do with water? The MOE allowed the Township of Adjala-Tosorontio, that has the majority of the County’s Oak Ridges Moraine area within its boundaries, to drop four wells on Natural Core Moraine to supply the 71-home hamlet of Colgan. The fact by 2005 the Province was on the Township’s back to get these 71 homes clean drinkable water, which they had not had in years seemed right. They needed the water badly! It was the location we questioned! They cut down a quarter of an acre or more, of trees on Natural Core, to drill the wells and have erected a pump house. They then ran a pipe north for two kilometres, to reach Colgan. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has not said boo to the desecration of the trees, the building on an area where no building is allowed and the ripping up of at least two kilometres of moraine.
Why did the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs allow this? Why, if it was the Ministry of Environment’s job to protect the water, did it allow Adjala-Tosorontio the right to drill there? The MOE could have pointed out that there was an area right next to Natural Core, almost in Colgan, on Countryside Moraine, that could be drilled in without destruction of Natural Core.
The Township had expropriated the other land from a citizen, for the new wells, so why not expropriate a half acre of land with no trees, almost in Colgan that would cost a fraction of the other location to develop? In late 2005 it didn’t make sense that they wouldn’t have tested there for water first, when this land was on the edge of Colgan in countryside? Nor did it make sense that the MOE and Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs wouldn’t have pointed this out, if they were concerned about the Moraine. The chosen property was in a historical wetlands, that would produce methane. As it turned out, one of the four wells did have it. It also has a 47.3% phosphorous load that by law can not be more than 24.5%. This water has major problems. By mid-2006 it was revealed that the preferred location for the wells in the eyes of the public, was part of the developers property in the Countryside area.
The Ministry of the Environment told ROSSCORE that the Township of Adjala-Tosorontio had the right to that water and could give it to whomever they wished! Despite the fact that both Simcoe and Adjala-Tos. Councils and developers know there is a shortage of water in the area of Colgan, in both the New Tec and Adjala sides, they continue to claim that there is water enough for 443 new builds. The remaining water will come from some place else. The only area that would be available and would have water, is to go west,  straight across Highway 50 and deep into Natural Core there.  The Natural Core west on the Town Line has already been tapped by the golf course and there is brine at 50 and the 5th. They would have to go west along County Rd. #14 past fifty into a large area of Natural Core that is only partially drained by the golf course. Unfortunately, this hunk of Core Moraine  services Loretto, and very likely the Alliston Aquifer and Everett, whose population is about to double
Each water permit application stands alone – as if in virgin territory
It is not as if the Ministry of Environment doesn’t know there is a water shortage in the area around Colgan. The rural residents in New Tec and Adjala have been shouting it from the rafters since 2005. Woodington Lake’s water draw has left this area depleted. Since 2005 streams and ponds have vanished, as well as many, many wells. This is a different project in the MOE’s eyes, so anything that has gone on with the golf course is irrelevant.
What happens when another water permit is presented to the MOE in the same area? The application is judged on the reports, that the developer or Township send in. No one is sent out to check these facts out, the public is not informed or asked for comment. Any other permits and complaints in the area have no bearing on this request. It stands alone as if in virgin territory. The reports could and do have bogus reports within the body of the application, but the MOE never checks these reports out and accepts the new application at face value.
In the case of Colgan, they got their 100-foot well. The Beeton Creek tributary springs out of the ground within metres of the four new Colgan wells.  Woodington Lake takes roughly 40% plus of this creek’s flow as it crosses the course. The club house at Woodington Lake has two 200 foot deep wells that supply 1.44 million litres a day since 1995. This is about a fifth of a kilometre from Colgan’s wells. About three kilometres east of Woodington’s wells is Tottenham’s Coventry Park well that supplies the majority of the town’s water. Within four km. there are seven wells and a creek all at the same level, across this narrow piece of Moraine. This does not include the golf courses ponds draining the shallow aquifers, a third well in Colgan and the private wells in that 4 kilometre stretch.
Does the MOE take all these aspects into account before granting more water?  No! All this was approved by the Ministry of Environment and ignored by the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs. They are playing into the hands of Adjala-Tos, the County of  Simcoe, the golf course and the developers. They live in the city and are not affected.
So where is the water for those 1,800 homes in Tottenham or even Colgan going to come from, if the water runs out? The PIPE ! That is what far too many people think! Having spoken to the head of the water department in Collingwood, he confirmed that in the near future, there are no plans to increase the water down to New Tec. Nor are there plans for a new facility to house the enlarged pump to facilitate such an increase in water flow south. The population in the north, especially Collingwood, already resent water flowing south because there is not an equal amount of water flowing north to Georgian Bay. The Bay is at a historical low. This puts tourism in the area at risk and that is their bread and butter! It would be political suicide to grant New Tec more water and if nothing else, politicians understand self preservation.
Why is the water flowing north so depleted ? We have to go back to the Moraine. Woodington Lake Golf Course, on the town line of New Tec and Adjala, opened in 1995. They had a permit from the MOE for 4.3 million litres of water a day for 180 days. The industry standard! Their two wells for the Club House were at 200 feet, supplied the club house with 1.44 million litres a day, 365 days a year. They dug a 12 acre lake and five varying sized deep water ponds. One of the ponds is at least 2 acres and another at least a quarter kilometre long. These unlined holes are below the majority of the myriad of shallow vulnerable aquifers that studded this area (from Simcoe County’s 2003 water report on the area). The water flowed to these deeper dug areas, filling up the ponds and depleting the dug wells on the Moraine.
At the same time the tributary of the Beeton Creek, that followed a Linkage Area across the golf course, was redirected through these varying ponds to fill them completely. This golf course boasts that all but three of its 36 holes have water features. The golf course covers 250 acres.
This Beeton Creek Tributary joins the Beeton Creek proper, above Tottenham that flows into Innisfil Creek, that flows into the Nottawasaga River., which is at historic lows. Why?
The Nottawasaga River springs out of Natural Core Moraine in Mono Township. There has been concern over the Nottawasaga’s depth for some time and the source of pollution in it.
This river must pass the Hockley Valley Golf and Country Club hotel and ski resort on its way north. This resort takes water all year long at rates that are unimaginable and hard to find. Having 18 holes of golf, the MOE would give it the industry standard amount of 4.3 million litres a day and more than likely 10% of the rivers flow. Since snowfall has been unreliable, they make snow. Snow is made from water. Water that comes out of the Natural Core Moraine it sits on, near the headwaters of the Nottawasaga River.
 Then the Nottawasaga flows through Adjala, crosses into New Tec and past the Nottawasaga Golf and County Club hotel and housing development.
Two once-healthy creeks now slowed to a trickle
 Looking farther south to Woodington Lake Golf Course, we see part of the reason the Nottawasaga is at an all time low. As the Woodington Lake golf course continued to deplete the shallow aquifers in Adjala, the depletion spread so far west that it encompassed an area past County Rd. 50 to the source of the Bailey Creek on Natural Core Moraine. It has also depleted the source of the Keenansville Creek, on Natural Core, even closer to the golf course. These two once healthy creeks, that ran from two to three feet deep for decades, are now down to four to eight inches. The streams that once ran into these two creeks are gone. So are the aquifers and ponds in the area. So the Beeton only gets 8 inches off these creeks when they join up north of Beeton. It itself has been depleted already by its tributary passing through Woodington. So by the time these four bodies of water, that are severely depleted, merge with the Innisfil Creek we’re seeing less water flow to it. It’s not rocket science why Innisfil Creek is down to a foot from three feet. The Nottawasaga depends on them and the water off the Moraine, and it just isn’t there. So Georgian Bay gets less, thus Collingwood is seeing less water. It all starts with the Moraine. The same problem exists on the South Moraine. Lake Ontario is also at a historic low!
This is the general effect that golf courses have on our rivers and creeks. In all of Simcoe County and Southern Georgian Bay, there are 84 golf courses, of which 17 by their name indicate that they are on a waterway or lake.
We are far more interdependent than we ever imagined a decade or two ago. This is about just one small segment of the Moraine that is under attack. But it’s happening everywhere along the Moraine’s length.  There are 177 golf courses in the GTA, all taking off water from rivers and creeks flowing to Lake Ontario. They, unlike the people that live around them, do not pay for their water. They are on wells, in the heart of the city, that feed the club houses and convention centres. The water is used for irrigation as well. This is all water that had been heading south underground, to Lake Ontario. Is it a wonder that the lake is at a historic low!
There are 31 golf courses in the Belleville-Clarington area, and 38 in the Kawartha Lakes- Haliburton area. These golf courses are part of the Moraine watershed or on it. There are 323 golf courses on or within the watershed of the Oak Ridges Moraine or 43.4% of all those in Southern Ontario. All these feed off the 160 kilometres of Moraine. Even if these 323 golf courses were to get only 4.3 million litres a day, they would be using 1,388.9 million litres a day or 250,002 million litres over the average 180 days they are legally allowed to take water! It boggles the mind! With 34 of these golf courses directly on the Moraine. you can understand the need to protect the Moraine now!
Water bottlers that siphon water out of an area like the one just north-west  of  Loretto in Adjala, do not create jobs unless you count the water hauling trucks going to the big water bottlers. This water is sold to Air Canada and travels around the world. It is a known fact that taking water across watersheds is acceptable in the case of water bottlers. Water haulers plunk their hoses into our creeks and rivers for free, than charge rural homes without water. They too take water out of one watershed to deposit it in another. The Province turns a blind eye to it.
3. Countryside:  This Moraine Category takes up  about a third of the Moraine. Recreational things like golf courses and skiing can be built there. There is no housing here generally, but housing is not prohibited. Unfortunately the things the Province has allowed here, are often water guzzlers, like aggregates, sod farming, golf courses, water bottlers, water haulers etcetera.. You need water to make snow and golf courses want water to water grass. They have a permit from the Ministry of Environment for X number of litres per day. It is not hard to get one and the cost is minimal. Between $500 and $2000 for a 5 to 10 year permit. Lately they have been going after 10 year permits. It is likely they see the handwriting on the wall as grassroots groups fight for the right to water. These permits must be rescinded, by Queen’s Park , for the good of all of Ontario.
Kilometre-long sewage dump proposed for Colgan
The Countryside that sounds so pristine, can become a dumping zone for development. The proposed development in Colgan will see almost a kilometre long sewage dump in Countryside for the entire two developments. It will sit beside Natural Core and will pollute the water passing through that area heading for aquifers, creeks and ordinary citizen’s wells. The land around the area would also be contaminated. One of the top Environmental Engineers of Ontario was positive that this would be the case if this type of sewage disposal would go in. The type of sewage plant that uses this system is antiquated. No one uses it, and definitely not as a primary sewage system. Only if you needed a little extra capacity in extreme instances would anyone consider this as an add-on to a modern facility.
This is where the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs turns a blind eye or sends you back to your council for help. The same council that is aiding the developer and obstructing everything the people want to do or know. The Province, when asked what it can do to help the public, will tell you bluntly, that they have no jurisdiction over the Townshipa!
Since Countryside often sits up against unrestricted land, it is a developers idea of heaven. They can build there! Often on flat Grade A and B farmland. Unfortunately the Province never thought this build zone through. Where were they to get water? How much water was there? Would the Township take the time or spend the money to investigate the water in an area and if it could continue to support the present residents as well as new development ? The answer is no.  If this research were done and done properly, more often these days, the Township would find that there isn’t enough water for both new development and the present population. As in the proposed development in Tottenham and Colgan. But they will risk building anyway for what purpose, we don’t know, knowing full well, of the water shortage? The present and the new members of the community will run out of water and loose their homes because they are uninhabitable. And as I said, the PIPE is a pipe dream!
4. Rural Settlement Area:  This is a component of the Countryside Area. This isn’t as complex as Countryside, but seems to fall within this other area’s rulings. This is where housing can be built in the Rural area within the Moraine boundaries. It does not mean huge developments, but more individual homes. But that does not stop developers from building there.
5. Settlement Area: This is either where a town or village exists already or could be expanded on. These areas only exist around Tottenham. None exist in Adjala.
Do not confuse this designation with the same name that the Townships are giving to areas in which developers want to build. They are calling them Settlement Areas, claming that building can occur  because of the designation. Two areas in Adjala – Keenansville and Colgan – have been named Settlement Areas despite the fact there is no water to spare and both communities and the rural area around it are suffering from lack of water. Colgan is a prime example of this re-designation.
Conclusion
The Province’s Places To Grow program states that there are five places to grow in Simcoe. Bradford, Alliston, Barrie , Orillia and Collingwood. That to add more growth to an area, there must be in place before this growth goes in, a water supply, sewage facilities, roads, jobs, schools, hospitals and all other forms of infrastructure . That the new development must be attached to these previously developed facilities. It does not mean that the developer can put in homes, than try and create these things in a secondary build or not at all after they put in homes. Colgan and other such areas break every rule of the Places To Grow plan.
Allowing municipalies to take water off the Oak Ridges Moraine to feed new development was not the intention of the 2001 Oak Ridges Moraine Act. It was passed to protect the valuable essential watershed that feeds millions of people. The David Suzuki Foundation has already said that southern Ontario is about to face a water crisis. Lake Ontario and Georgian Bay are down to a historical record low and the environmental changes we are seeing now, is once again predicting another drought year. With less rain and snow we can not go merrily on our way following the old destructive ways.
Sharon Yovanoff is a researcher and writer and has been associated with two environmental groups in South Simcoe since 2001 – BARCA (Ballycroy Area Rural Conservation Alliance) and ROSSCORE (Residents of South Simcoe Conserving Our Rural Roots).