6.0 Grants Creek Catchment: Accomplishments/Activities
Achievements noted by the Friends of the Tay Watershed Association (FoTW) are indicated by an asterisk.
Development
Local residents and the Friends of the Tay Watershed Association took an active role over a four-year period in monitoring municipal controls (lot size, setbacks etc.) for a 50 lot residential development on a sensitive sector of Grants Creek and the Tay River (SWP zone) in Glen Tay hamlet. As the first of anticipated future developments along these watercourses, the site conditions for development of the property were appropriate and set important precedents. The tests applied to the development along with information contained in the Glen Tay and Grants Creek catchment reports available from the RVCA provided a sound basis for the decisions.*
In-stream/Fish Habitat
5.4 kilometres of Grants Creek have been surveyed and ten headwaters are sampled once every six years by the RVCA using the Ontario Stream Assessment Protocol.
The report "Fish Habitat of the Tay River Watershed: Existing Conditions and Opportunities for Enhancement" was prepared in 2002 by MNR, RVCA, Parks Canada and DFO. A number of specific fish habitat enhancement projects are identified in the report to improve the fishery along Grants Creek (see pp.111-116).
Septic Inspections
41 voluntary septic system re-inspections have been conducted by the Mississippi Rideau Septic System Office on 41 properties in the Grants Creek catchment, as a service provided to Tay Valley Township since 2004.
Tree Planting
39,050 trees have been planted at five sites in the Grants Creek catchment by the RVCA Private Land Forestry Program, resulting in the reforestation of 19 hectares.
Water Quality
Five stream monitoring sites on Grants Creek are sampled yearly by the RVCA for 22 parameters at each location, six times a year, to assess surface chemistry water quality conditions.
Two Ontario Benthic Biomonitoring Network sites on Grants Creek are each sampled by the RVCA in the spring and fall of each year with three replicates, to assess instream biological water quality conditions.
Thirteen Rural Clean Water Program projects were completed by the RVCA Rural Clean Water Program.
The 2011 Grants Creek Catchment Report, including the detailed water quality monitoring information it contains, has been a major help in understanding this drainage area and its demands, as this catchment receives more comments of concern than any other watercourse in the Tay watershed. Specific examples of the value of RVCA surface water quality testing and reporting in the catchment report include its use when reviewing the impact of the auto-wrecking operation on the water quality of Grants Creek (located on the Upper Scotch Line Road at the Bowes Side Road) along with the effect of livestock access to Grants Creek at a number of sites.*
Waterway Planning and Management
The Tay Watershed Management Plan (2002) brought together a diverse group of watershed stakeholders to exchange information and opinions on the challenges facing the watershed. This forum focused the community on the need for managing the Tay Watershed, requiring positive cooperation amongst a range of stakeholders and helped develop a foundation of data and information on the watershed and resources against which later developments and trends are being measured and decisions are being made.
The Plan also led to the formation of the Friends of the Tay Watershed Association, who have been instrumental in implementing 20 of 24 management plan recommendations. In the opinion of the Association, one of the most significant measures of success for the water protection activities carried out in the Tay watershed is that there has never been a serious environmental pollution incident that threatened the area’s drinking water or its recreational waterbodies. To this day, the Friends of the Tay Watershed remain committed to preserving and enhancing the health of the Tay River watershed through their work.*