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David Spence made a personal discovery this week. It was a waterfall he had never seen before, Bradley Falls, on Huntley Creek, which runs into the Carp River. The falls, on the former Bradley Farm, is a drop of maybe three metres and it turns the rain and melting snow of the surrounding countryside into a bubbling rush of water and air. It’s a glimpse of what a small waterway can be. The question is: Are we willing to pay the price?
It’s the goal of Mr. Spence and his colleagues at the Friends of the Carp River to improve the Carp through a river restoration project they want to have done from urban Kanata north to the village of Carp and eventually down to the Ottawa River, where the Carp empties.
The Carp is the humblest of waterways and it has much to be humble about. Last week it was swelling its banks, nearly flooding Carp Road and submerging farmers’ fields in the spring thaw. By the weekend, the water had receded off the fields and parts of the river looked almost stagnant. By August, you’ll be able to step over some stretches because the flow will be so diminished.
In parts of the river, “It’s a ditch,” says Mr. Spence. Changes done over the years took out the twists and turns in the cause of building a straighter flow. There has been build-up of silt that, coupled with channel changes, makes it difficult for fish to survive. Water flow is diminishing and water quality has been eroded by fertilizers and animal waste.
The Friends of the Carp have a dream of restoring the river by reducing the sedimentation, restoring the “meanders,” planting vegetation and building stone riffles that create bubbling water. Wetlands along the river would help create a sponge effect so that the Carp is less prone to its cycle of flooding followed by drought in the summer. Even more importantly, the water flowing into the Ottawa River at Fitzroy Harbour would be cleaner, a benefit for a city that takes its drinking water out of the Ottawa downstream.
The proposed Kanata West land development, a huge mix of residential, office and commercial buildings around Scotiabank Place, was viewed as the way to get a river restoration project going. But there have been serious delays and questions about whether the whole development idea is sound in regards to flood risks from the Carp. This week Ottawa’s auditor general is to release an audit on how the whole Kanata West file was handled by the city. Earlier this year the city called for a halt to the development approval process for certain Kanata West lands because of uncertainty about the modelling work done to predict water quantity and flow from the site.
If the long-delayed project finally gets its approvals, the city, in partnership with the Kanata West Owners Group, has a detailed plan from consultants Totten Sims Hubicki for restoring the 3.6 kilometres of the Carp River between Hazeldean Road and Richardson Side Road. The cost for the project would be $5.9 million, with 30 per cent of the price covered by the city and the rest paid by the developers. The project would take five or six years to complete, according to the city.
But the Friends wants much more to be done.
Mr. Spence says there’s no point in restoring just one section of the river if all of the downriver problems continue. Even if the river is being improved in the urban-development area, the increased speed of water flows on the newly paved Kanata West, and increased pollution of the water, could be troublesome. Mr. Spence likens it to buying a fancy new sink and ignoring the problems in the plumbing.
Protection of people in the Carp area from flooding is especially important.
Mr. Spence says that with an additional $5 million or so, additional restoration work can be done north of urban Kanata. He says a number of landowners have agreed to give up small portions of their property to accommodate the restoration work.
“It’s only 42 kilometres long. We aren’t dealing with the Amazon here,” says Mr. Spence. “To look at these elements in isolation is too shortsighted.”
But the Kanata West landowners (including the City of Ottawa, which owns property in the area) have not been keen to take on such a huge project, which some believe could cost much more than $5 million.
“It’s a question of where does the money come from?” says Kanata South Councillor Peggy Feltmate, noting all of the financial demands on the city. “We do things in pieces.”