Metroland Series: Crisis on Georgian Bay Part 1

Worries abound as water levels dip to historic lows on Georgian Bay

Oshawa This Week May 17, 2013
A wooden dock extending out into dry grassland. A family cottage that can no longer be reached by boat.
A marina hammered by the twin blows of high dredging costs and fewer customers.
These are just some of the pictures that emerged in recent weeks as Metroland Media Group journalists explored the issue of low water levels on southern Georgian Bay.
From Parry Sound, south to Midland and Penetanguishene, and from Wasaga Beach west to Meaford, the effects are a hot topic of conversation for waterfront residents, business owners and municipal officials.
This special four-part series will examine the issue of low water levels from a number of angles, including the personal impacts, the science behind low water levels, the politics involved with addressing the problem, and, finally, what steps might be taken to stop Georgian Bay from falling into an even worse state.
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Pointe au Baril cottager Charlie Sawyer’s fascination with Georgian Bay is as deep as his family’s roots in the waterfront community.
Although born in Colorado, Sawyer has summered on Flat Rock Island, about 40 minutes north of Parry South, since he was a child. Sawyer’s grandparents have owned the island since the early 1950s.
Last year, while going through old film footage of his father’s, Sawyer noticed the dramatic change in water levels since the 1986 filming.
“I decided to go out and do a comparison between 1986 and 2012,” said Sawyer from his Los Angeles home.
Since it debuted on YouTube last fall, Sawyer’s five-minute video, “Pointe au Baril Water Levels 1986-2012,” has had almost 5,000 views.
“I wanted to see what a comparison would look like. There are a couple of spots in particular where I can see the water levels from each year,” he said. “I can tell where it went up in 1986; you can see it right on the rock itself.”
Sawyer said his family has had to adapt as the years have gone by, being extra careful to avoid new shoals that have cropped up.
“There’s only two – soon to be one – key points to access the island,” he said, noting they won’t be able to navigate their boat through Hemlock Channel if the water levels decrease any further.
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In January, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released numbers highlighting the historic nature of the problem. Lakes Huron and Michigan were recorded at their lowest levels since recordkeeping began close to 100 years ago, a remarkable 74 centimetres below their long-term average.
To many people, it has become evident there’s a crisis on Georgian Bay.
In fact, that is the word John Visser of the Collingwood Yacht Club used to describe the issue to a packed house recently at the Collingwood Public Library.
Visser said water levels this summer could dip 20 or 30 centimetres below chart datum. He said the normal spring “spike” did not happen, meaning more than 50 boats that normally dock in Collingwood might not be able to launch this year.
“(Boats) will be standing on the bottom, some of the time or all of the time, next summer,” he said. “We have a crisis on our hands.”
Shawnn Everitt, director of recreation for The Blue Mountains, said they will spend close to $200,000 dredging the municipal harbour this summer.
Collingwood resident Ulli Rath said it’s imperative that residents pressure the government and the International Joint Commission (IJC) to restore water levels in the Great Lakes.
“We’d like to believe it’s going to get better,” he said. “The evidence shows that’s not going to happen. This is really the issue that is facing our community.”
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Tiny Township resident France St. Amour and her husband have been boating on Georgian Bay since the summer of 2000. They love being out on the water as much as possible.
In recent years, however, they have had to change where and how they boat due to new hazards created by low water levels.
“We used to have a big boat you travel on and go stay places. We’d travel to Little Dog Channel, even though you had to be careful,” she said. “Now, all of those cottages … have no access. There’s a huge difference.”
The biggest issue for boaters is definitely the safety factor, she said, recalling an incident last year when they hit a large rock.
“It was unmarked and we were not expecting it,” she said. “Even though you see the water levels dropping, you’re still boating the way you used to.
“There are places I wouldn’t dare go now.”
Sawyer can relate, as he recalls a day last August when the low water levels created major headaches for boaters near his cottage.
“I could hear people hitting rocks all over the place because everybody is so used to the water being at the same level,” he said. “They’re going through the same spots and, all of the sudden, they’re hitting rocks.”
Although the water loss has meant more land for him and his family, Sawyer said some of the island’s ponds, marshes and favourite canoe spots have long since dried up, now full of waist-high grass and even trees.
“I’m definitely worried,” he said. “Next thing you know, we’ll have to take a four-wheeler in to get to our cottage.”
Midland’s Kathy Smith has also seen highs and lows near her family cottage in Waubaushene over the years.
Smith, whose family has been cottaging in the area since the 1930s, recalled having issues with the water being too high in the 1980s.
“My mom and dad would go down the road one way to play cards at a friend’s,” she said. “And then they’d have to get driven home after because they couldn’t walk down the road for the water being incredibly high.”
At her cottage, located near Long Point Road, Smith said she could look down the channel only three years ago and see water. That’s no longer the case.
“There’s a neighbour who used to have to take a boat out to the cottage, but now they have a road because the water is so low,” she said.
The days of carefree time spent mostly on or in the water is missed. “There was non-stop water activity, boating activity, paddleboats and canoes. There was a lot of windsurfing in that area, and you don’t see that anymore.”
By the end of last summer, she noted, they couldn’t even get a kayak out from their dock.
“It’s beyond frustrating. My grandson could catch fish there three years ago, (but) there are no fish there anymore. It’s all marsh and grassland. You can’t boat out in the open water for the big rafts of weeds. You can’t take the kids tubing. You’re losing a quality of life and losing the things we used to do as kids.”
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Longtime residents of Pointe au Baril say the water level is the worst it’s ever been.
Reports of difficult-to-access cottages and businesses in need of dredging can be confirmed around the small town. Some businesses have fared better than others, but everyone is feeling the effects of low water levels.
The Leisure Bay Holiday Resort consists of several cottages and a number of boat slips in a picturesque part of Pointe au Baril. It has been able to accommodate the new lower water level, but is far from untouched by the changes. The resort has a number of slips that customers are able to park their boats at when travelling between the mainland and their island cottages.
At the end of the season, resort owner Karl Gross said he heard from a number of customers about their need to make structural changes to their properties to respond to the low water levels.
“About 15 per cent … had difficulties to get to their islands utilizing the docks that they had,” said Gross. “Many of them are faced this spring with having to move their dock around the island till they find a deeper spot.”
Some people have it worse than just having to relocate a dock. Several properties are on islands behind channels that are so low they are not safely accessible by boat.
The problem is widespread across Georgian Bay. A new report by those municipalities that participated put the cost of dealing with the low water levels at $8 million in 2013. That figure is only the direct cost of solving issues caused by the low levels; it does not include the expected loss of income for businesses that won’t get the same level of traffic to their businesses.
Gross said he is fortunate to have enough capacity at his business to move boats he was storing to an area where it is still deep enough. About 38 boats had to be moved into different slips.
And like many property owners, Gross said is hoping there will be action to address the issue.
“I’m upset just as anyone else, but I know I can’t do anything about it. I wish the politicians would do something. It’s been going on long enough,” Gross said.
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In Meaford, Dave Richardson has had to dredge around his docks four times in the last 10 years, and will have to bring in the heavy equipment again this summer to make sure boats can access the marina.
The Richardson family has operated marinas on Georgian Bay since 1933. Richardson has seen low water before – he can remember it being lower back in the early 1960s – but it wasn’t a problem in Meaford back then because they dredged the harbour to a depth of 25 feet so coal boats could come in and unload.
The days of coal are over, but the days of low water have returned, and it’s costing big bucks for marina operators all around the bay.
“It’s definitely affecting our business,” said Richardson, who operates Richardson Boat Works.
And it’s not just the costs associated with extending docks and dredging marina basins.
“Some of our customers are just not putting their boats in the water this year because of all the publicity surrounding the low water,” he said. “One of our clients said he’s just going to travel this summer instead of putting his boat in the water. So we lose the slip rental, the money he’d spend on gas and parts here, groceries in town … There really is a ripple effect.”
Because of concerns over the fishery, marinas in Meaford and Thornbury can’t dredge until after July 1. Richardson said they will definitely have to dredge some areas. The Municipality of Meaford is also planning to dredge the channel in the inner harbour.
It’s a costly process, and Richardson said he hopes the federal and provincial governments will come through with the emergency funds for which Georgian Bay mayors are lobbying.
“Even if the municipality could receive some funding for its dredging costs, that would help.
“I’m an optimist,” he continued. “The water has come up a little from last October when we really had issues, but it remains to be seen if it will stay up. Normally, it starts to drop around the first of September, so only time will tell.”
— Roland Cilliers,  John Edwards, Stephannie Johnson, Nikki Million-Cole and Scott Woodhouse