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An Environment Canada water quality study set to be released this week gives reasonably high marks to Ottawa-area rivers. But local environmentalists warn that the study doesn’t take all factors into account and that residents shouldn’t be complacent about the health of their rivers.
The Mississippi
The top scoring river in the area was the Mississippi, which received an “excellent” rating of 100.
A tributary of the Ottawa River, the Mississippi starts near Bon Echo Provincial Park and winds into the northwest rural area of Ottawa.
“It would have gotten such a good review because a lot of our watershed isn’t very populated,” said Kelly Wilson, assistant environmental planner for the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority. “A lot of it is cottage country with light agriculture. It isn’t like southern Ontario, which is all city.”
Other area rivers tested in the Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators 2007 report didn’t fare as well as the Mississippi.
The Ottawa
The Ottawa River, the city’s main source of drinking water, received reasonable scores.
Extending 1,271 kilometres along the Ontario and Quebec border, the Ottawa was given a range of ratings, depending where the samples were taken. The scores ranged from 100 at Portage-Du-Fort, to 91.7 just upstream of the city of Ottawa, decreasing downstream to as low as 70.5 at Notre Dame du Nord and 70.7 at the Carillon Canal.
“Of course the city of Ottawa and Gatineau have quite a major impact on water quality,” said Meredith Brown of Ottawa Riverkeeper, a grassroots advocacy organization with the mission of protecting the health of the river.
As the river flows past cities, sewage treatment plants and pulp mills, pollutants are added to the river, she said.
The report evaluated 395 sites across the country and tested for a variety of factors including nutrients like phosphorus, trace metals like lead and major ions like chloride.
“Rivers are our lifeblood,” said Ms. Brown. “I think our whole quality of life as well as economic sustainability really depends on our river systems’ clean water.”
Ms. Brown published a water quality report on the Ottawa River in 2006 that argued no one is taking responsibility for the waterway’s health and that the public knows little about what is being dumped into it.
There are misconceptions about how clean the water is because some substances aren’t often measured with enough rigour, she said.
“Water quality indicators are typically based on nutrients and things that are easy to measure,” she said. “But there are a lot of other substances of concern. Just think of the products people are dumping down their sinks.”
“There are chemicals in waste water that municipal waste water treatment plants cannot remove adequately,” added Dave McCartney, manager of waste water and drainage for the City of Ottawa.
The city operates one of the largest waste water treatment plants in Canada, which can remove nutrients like phosphorus, but there are many factors affecting quality that aren’t as easy to take care of: “Things like pharmaceuticals, estrogen from birth control pills and chemicals used around the house.”
Big storms can cause combined sewer systems in older parts of the city to overflow and carry sewage into Ottawa’s river system, said Mr. McCartney.
Partly because of its sheer size and volume, he said, the river continues to have a good water quality rating.
“For all of its challenges, the Ottawa River is pretty awesome piece of water and it is in relatively good condition,” said local naturalist and ecological consultant Dan Brunton. But if the river is going to continue to thrive, he says agricultural and urban runoff need to be curbed and the river needs more effective monitoring.
“That it does well against other rivers would have been expected, but we have over a million people living here and we want to be ready so that we can keep it that way,” he said.
The Rideau River
The 136-kilometre Rideau River received a “fair” rating of 75.2.
“Rideau River is the depository of all the other ones,” said Pat Larson, senior water resources technician for the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority. “Basically it is the end receiver for all the other streams, so the Tay River, the Kemptville Creek and the Jock River all come into it.”
Provincially, the suggested limit for phosphorus is 30 micrograms per litre, but Mr. Larson said a recent five-year study concluded that the Rideau River averaged at 47 micrograms per litre.
“The more phosphorous, the more plants,” said Mr. Larson. “And in time it will choke up the system and have an impact on what creatures can live there.”
“Phosphorus and nitrogen both come from fertilizers and that is why they are found in agricultural zones,” said Ms. Wilson. “But that is also why they are found in urban zones, because everyone loves a great lawn.”
The South Nation River
The South Nation River, which begins north of Brockville and flows into the Ottawa River near Plantagenet, was also given a “fair” rating with a score of 78.1.
“I’m surprised it did that well,” said University of Ottawa biology professor Frances Pick. “The South Nation is in a deplorable state.”
“It is a very agricultural, low lying area…and there is no protection of the shoreline,” said Ms. Pick. “I smell like a cow when I come out of that thing and I’m only taking samples from a boat.”
“I don’t want to push any panic buttons,” said Ms. Brown. “We do have this great river system, but we can’t be complacent.”
“The water quality index is just one measure of the health of a river,” said Ms. Brown. “Think of the shorelines, the wetlands… there are all kinds of other things that measure its health.”
“It is beautiful and still brings a quality of life to the city,” said Ms. Brown. “But it could be way better.”
© The Ottawa Citizen 2007