The following article is from an archived newsletter. See our Shared Waters newsletter.

Successes and Challenges in Canadian Areas of Concern

Photo of Raj Bejankiwar
Raj Bejankiwar
IJC
Salma Ahmed
IJC
Wheatley Harbour

The Great Lakes basin covers an area greater than 750,000 square kilometers. In Canada, it’s home to 90 percent of Ontario’s population, provides drinking water to 8.5 million people and 40 percent of Canada’s economic activity.

This dependency has caused the Great Lakes’ ecological health to deteriorate. Throughout the basin in Canada, as in the United States, many sites have been impaired.

In these “hot spots,” the water needs additional treatment to be ready for consumption, aquatic life is at risk or not safe to eat, and there are health warnings related to swimming, fishing or boating. The source of this impairment can vary from industrial development to sewage plant discharges and historic pollution from past practices. These locations are known as Areas of Concern (AOCs).

What is an Area of Concern? In 1987, the US-Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement formally established AOCs as geographic locations where environmental degradation hinders the ability for human use and/or the capacity to support aquatic life. Termed Beneficial Use Impairments, they represent a change in the chemical, physical or biological integrity of the area that became a standard for evaluating the severity of the AOC. Fourteen beneficial uses are considered for each AOC.

Each AOC has a Remedial Action Plan (RAP), which is a comprehensive strategy for dealing with impairments within the area.

Lake Erie Wheatley Harbour

Canada has 17 AOCs, of which two are in recovery and three are restored. Wheatley Harbour in Lake Erie is the latest AOC that has been restored and removed from the list of Canadian AOCs. Wheatley Harbour AOC was listed in 1987 due to five beneficial use impairments, and a final cleanup was completed in 2010.

Wheatley Harbour. Credit: Government of Ontario
Wheatley Harbour. Credit: Government of Ontario

An AOC is delisted by the government of Canada when environmental monitoring information confirms that environmental quality has been restored in accordance with criteria established in consultation with other levels of government, IJC and the public of each degraded area.

The success at Wheatley Harbour occurred over a period of more than 20 years. Cleaning up AOCs is a long, complex and often capital-intensive process. More than $4 million was spent to upgrade sewage treatment plants. Federal agencies, in conjunction with provincial and other financing partners, worked together with municipalities and communities to restore ecological integrity to the AOC.

Hamilton Harbour Hamilton Harbour on the western tip of Lake Ontario is an ongoing challenge. Upon initial assessment in 1989 and 1992, this AOC had 11 impairments. Development in Hamilton Harbour has led to cleanups of 675,000 meters of contaminated sediment. Hamilton Harbour still has eight impairments and cleanup costs have amounted to $770 million.

Hamilton Harbour. Credit: John Hall, Hamilton Harbour RAP coordinator
Hamilton Harbour. Credit: John Hall, Hamilton Harbour RAP coordinator

About 376 hectares of fish and wildlife habitat and 12 kilometers of shoreline habitat have been restored. The first phase of the Randle Reef cleanup project started in March and is expected to be complete by the end of 2017. Catherine McKenna, Canada’s minister of environment and climate change, anticipates  that the cleanup project will generate millions in economic benefits including job creation, business development and tourism. However, work still needs to be done to execute the next two phases of the cleanup project.

Responsibilities

Wastewater treatment discharges and combined sewer overflows contribute to the deteriorating conditions of AOCs within the Great Lakes. This is an issue in Hamilton Harbour as well as AOCS in Nipigon Bay, Peninsula Harbour, St Marys River, Toronto and the Bay of Quinte.

Not only is it a federal responsibility to remediate AOCs, but local communities are directly impacted by the financially intensive cleanup process.

In fiscal year 2010, the government of Canada renewed and made permanent its funding of $48 million annually for Great Lakes initiatives: $22 million from Environment Canada programs of which $6 million is allocated per year to remediate contaminated sediments in Great Lakes AOCs. Another $26 million is put forth for various activities by other federal departments.

In binational AOCs, coordinated efforts are required from Canadian and US federal, provincial and municipal governments. In the Detroit River AOC, for example, the Canadian government invested $60 million for a retention basin in the Detroit River to capture and treat combined sewer overflows in Windsor, eliminating 22 combined sewer overflows along the Windsor riverfront and reducing domestic sewage pollution significantly  on the Canadian side.

The most recent funding was a US grant for a Detroit River habitat restoration project of more than $7 million. The Detroit River Area of Concern has nine impairments and continues to demand the attention of all stakeholders to successfully mitigate impairments.

To take part in community initiatives dealing with AOCs and increase awareness of the AOCs in your community, visit the IJC’s Areas of Concern page

Photo of Raj Bejankiwar
Raj Bejankiwar
IJC

Rajesh Bejankiwar is a physical sciences officer at the IJC’s Great Lakes Regional Office in Windsor, Ontario.

Salma Ahmed
IJC

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