Toward a Watershed Monitoring Framework for the Toronto Region

INTRODUCTION

The Toronto and Region Remedial Action Plan (RAP) and the Great Lakes Water Quality Board (WQB) of the International Joint Commission (IJC) held a public workshop on watershed monitoring and management in Toronto, Ontario on May 13, 1999. The WQB is principal advisor to the IJC on policy matters relating to the Canada-United States Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The Board is made up of senior program managers from regional, state, provincial, and federal regulatory and resource management agencies. The Toronto and Region RAP is a blueprint for restoring beneficial uses along the waterfront and throughout the watersheds. The Waterfront Regeneration Trust and The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority are the local coordinating agencies for the RAP. These two agencies help the provincial and federal governments fulfill their responsibilities for the RAP under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. This public workshop was one in a series of workshops to support the RAP process in Toronto and fulfilled a WQB ongoing objective to improve public involvement and consultation. The purpose of the workshop was to:

  • learn about and discuss a proposed monitoring framework designed to provide the necessary information to assess the health of watershed ecosystems progress toward restoring beneficial uses, and to provide guidance on making management decisions;
  • use facilitated breakout sessions to obtain feedback on the adequacy and practicality of the proposed monitoring framework and innovative monitoring approaches;
  • learn about and discuss recent advances in data interpretation tools to help make sediment management decisions; and
  • provide advice on how the WQB and IJC can assist in bringing these issues to the attention of federal and provincial governments.

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