Dear Editor:
An open letter to Steven P. Boland, Director Public Works & Engineering, County of Renfrew.
Thank you for your e-mail of December 15,2016. Unfortunately as a member of the Muskrat Lake Association (MLA) and a resident of Muskrat Lake, I find it very disturbing that you have indicated; “I suspect that it is unlikely that the County will be willing to fund the study.”
Just in case you are not aware of how serious the problem is with Muskrat Lake I have attached a graph from a 1981 report; “Enrichment Status of Lakes in The Southeastern Region of Ontario, Ministry of Environment.” As you can see, from the 72 waterbodies tested, Muskrat Lake is, unfortunately, the worst.
In a 1981 report:” Township of Bromley Municipal Drainage Project Environmental Appraisal, Greer, Galloway& Associates Limited, Hough, Stansbury & Michalski Limited,” it was predicted that if the Upper Harris drain went ahead and was diverted into Muskrat Lake instead of the Bonnechere River, that the nutrient contamination of Muskrat Lake would get worse, and it did!
Both the Ministry of Environment & Climate Change( MOECC) and the Ministry of Natural Resources & Forestry (MNRF) have informed us that they have no funds to help in the remediation of Muskrat Lake.
As stated to you in my letter of December 5, 2016 the Commissioner of Ontario has confirmed that we will need to complete an “Application for Review”. This application must contain all the information on how bad the situation is with Muskrat Lake, as well it must also have a qualified, professional, and believable plan as to how to fix the problem. Without that remediation plan the Environmental Commissioner’s office told me that the “Application for Review” will be rejected.
If the application is rejected, we cannot re-submit for another five years. That is why we need to get it correct the first time around. The MLA will be submitting the Application for Review once we have the remediation plan that we need Renfrew County to fund.
The Environment Commissioner’s office stated that once we have an approved Application for Review then the Ontario Government will pass a Protection Plan and possibly a Protection Act for Muskrat. These documents will outline the actions and accountabiliities required in order to improve Muskrat Lake. This means that real action will be taken to improve Muskrat Lake. If you check you will see that Lake Simcoe, which has a similar problem, has both a Protection Plan and a Protection Act. Because of this there is definitely an improvement happening in Lake Simcoe.
In a meeting that five members of the MLA had with the MOECC on November 25, 2016 the MOECC explained that the 300 meter setback required for new septic systems will not be removed until Whitewater Region shows that it will implement measures to reduce phosphorus entering the lake such as: a) storm water management; b; septic system inspections around the lake and c) implementation of Best Management Practices that show a reduction in phosphorus loading entering the lake.
If Whitewater Region and Renfrew County are serious about increasing the population and tourism in Whitewater Region then we need to start by developing a remediation plan for Muskrat Lake.
Regards,
Donald W. Deer, P. Eng.
Cobden
