Re: Article “City’s lakes not out of the woods yet,” which appeared in the Oct. 9 edition of Northern Life.
“We’re allowing far ... too many nutrients to enter our lakes ... We’re too careless in our building codes and our land practices. We’re not brave enough to insist that drinking water be protected or lakes be protected. The consequence is that if we don’t, we’ll lose the use of our waters more and more frequently.”
These were the words of Dr. John Gunn of the Living with Lakes Centre during the launch of the Vital Signs Report on Oct. 2.
They resonate with growing public concern over the health of our lakes, as closed beaches and loss of private drinking water sources have become regular occurrences in our city.
How lucky we are to be a city of lakes, and to enjoy them as part of our home and part of our daily life. Not that long ago, we could take a day at the beach or on the water for granted. It’s a way of life we cherish.
We are now at a crossroads which will decide if that way of life can be maintained for ourselves, our children and grandchildren.
As Dr. Gunn made clear, that will require insisting that our lakes are protected with good land use and development practices.
The city is currently reviewing its Official Plan – there has never been a better time to make the policy changes needed to properly protect our lakes for now and for the future.
Some of the key changes needed are:
- Require watershed studies. Healthy watersheds mean healthy lakes. Watershed studies provide the basic information needed to make good planning decisions when it comes to water quality. Without them we are taking a gamble on the health of our lakes.
- Increase natural vegetative buffers along shorelines and wetlands to at least 30 metres. The most important thing we can do to keep our lakes healthy is to maintain the wetlands and natural shoreline vegetation that filter out contaminants before they end up in the water.
- Require low impact development standards. Low impact development absorbs rainwater where it falls, reducing run-off. This means less contaminants entering our lakes and waterways, less stress on our storm water systems, and less risk of flooding
- Require more stringent storm water treatment to remove more contaminants before they get into our lakes.
It is up to all of us to speak up for our lakes.
Input to the Official Plan Review can be sent to [email protected]
Naomi Grant
Greater Sudbury