Record low Georgian Bay water levels ‘a slow moving disaster’

By GISELE WINTON SARVIS Midland Free Press February 6, 2013 

Record low water levels in Georgian Bay are a “slow moving disaster,” Midland Mayor Gordon McKay says.

The Sierra Club’s Mary Muter agrees, saying “this is Site 42 in my opinion.”

The issue is of such importance that about 125 people drove through persistent snow squalls and high winds to attend a North Simcoe mayors meeting on the topic in Penetanguishene Jan. 31. People packed Brian Orser Hall to voice concerns over the situation which is expected to have a major negative impact this spring.

Mayor Gerry Marshall opened the forum saying he and mayors of Midland, Tiny and Tay townships will form a coalition with other mayors surrounding Georgian Bay and will take the public’s top concerns to both the province and federal governments to try to get action on this issue that is impacting marina owners, property owners, boaters and businesses relying on tourism dollars.

Marshall said it is expected that 40% of the area’s 21,000 boat slips will be unusable this spring due to lack of shoreline water. Water remains deep away from shore.

The International Joint Commission (IJC) studied the issue for five years and spent $17 million, and came up with the conclusion that nothing should be done.

“I was stunned with the IJC’s recommendation to do nothing,” Marshall said.

“Doing nothing is absolutely the wrong thing to do.”

This comment was echoed by several people attending the event, including Mary Muter, who heads up the Sierra Club’s Great Lakes section.

“Declare this a disaster,” she said in her speech with screens full of scientific data. “If this was in the U.S. it would be deemed a disaster,” she said.

Muter said nothing short of a public uprising and full pressure on all levels of government immediately will lead to a solution.

She condemned the IJC saying they spent years wasting money for nothing, when work could have already begun. Environmental groups, the public and governments were waiting for their solution.

“They gave us no viable option.”

Declining water levels are being seen in all the Great Lakes but it’s the worst in Lakes Huron and Michigan and worst of all in Georgian Bay, which is sitting at a record low.

Low water levels, she said, are due to multiple causes.

Global warming is causing a dryer climate; there is less snow and rain running into the lakes, less winter ice and more evaporation.

Another cause is large scale dredging of the St. Clair River for a shipping lane between Lake Huron down to Lake Erie.

In addition to artificially created depth, the speed of the water moving is hastened by a steel- walled shoreline and drainage of almost all former wetlands that kept water back.

The area has also been mined and natural shoreline has suffered from serious erosion.

This is where work could take place by reinforcing the natural shoreline to slow erosion and implanting hollow sills into the river that would slow the pace of draining while allowing for fish passage.

Muter said designs for this type of work were in place 50 years ago through the U.S. Army Corps but bickering over small details ended up with the project never being started.

Her research has shown that Canada can force the U.S. to begin this work again and share the cost.

“Our two countries have an agreement,” she said. “Go to the government. Write to (premier) Kathleen Wynne, sign our petition at restoreourwater.com.”

She said it would take five years and between $100 to $200 million to fix the problem, but if work was begun in the spring, water levels would rise within three to five years.

Doing nothing will end up costing much more than this, she added.

“Who’s putting a dollar value on the dead fish and birds and loss of wetland habitat?” she asked.

Muter said she will deliver the petition to Stephen Harper’s Conservative government when the petition reaches 5,000 signatures.

Marshall, McKay, Tay Township Mayor Scott Warnock and Tiny Township Mayor Ray Millar will be meeting with mayors of Parry Sound and Owen Sound in the next week to form a coalition to present one voice to the government, Marshall said.

“The shoreline is common to all of us,” he said.

“We get that the issue is very complex,” said Marshall, who explained that bailing out the big three North American automobile companies was easier as it simply required three cheques.

Marshall said the mayors will not be put off by the provincial government saying it is a federal responsibility.

“It affects us all, municipal, provincial and federal,” said Marshall, noting the residents and businesses that are impacted are in municipalities.

Allan Donaldson, director of Boating Ontario, was at the meeting representing marinas. He proposes a 50/50 government/business split on covering the cost of marina dredging so local businesses can rent slips with water.

“In 2000, we put in place a $15- million emergency dredging program. Today, we have more of an emergency. I don’t think we’ve ever had water levels this low.

“We are asking for money for a dredging program.”

He said he wants governments to remove the red tape, so dredging projects can begin in the spring.

One audience member, who didn’t give her name, questioned widespread dredging.

“If everyone is dredging, isn’t the water going to go down for everyone else?”

Ruth and Kirk Wheldon, who live on the waterfront at Tay Point on Midland Bay said they spent more than $6,000 putting in a water line less than three years ago.

Kirk said the water has gone down three feet in three years.

“We are on the verge of having no water. We are on the verge of not being able to get through the winter. The water system needs to be replaced.”