by SUSAN MANN
The Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association has started talking about how it can tap into a $29 million federal fund announced Monday for projects to clean up Lake Simcoe and Southeastern Georgian Bay.
York Simcoe MP Peter Van Loan announced the money for the Lake Simcoe/southeastern Georgian Bay clean-up fund on behalf of federal Environment Minister Peter Kent.
Federal funds from the previous Lake Simcoe clean up fund, which ran from 2007 to 2012, plus provincial money were used for the Lake Simcoe farm stewardship program to help farmers pay for on-farm projects, such as improvements to manure storage and handling, erosion control structures and septic system upgrades. The association delivered that program, says program manager Andy Graham. Last year, just the province contributed funding to the Lake Simcoe farm stewardship program.
The association considers the new five-year federal fund for projects aimed at restoring the ecological and water quality health of Lake Simcoe and Southeastern Georgian Bay “as a new opportunity,” Graham says. “We are into discussions now to determine what options might be there to pursue funding that might eventually materialize into new environmental program incentive opportunities.”
But “we’re pretty early in the process,” he says. “The onus is on us and others to submit proposals for their (the federal government’s) consideration.”
The Lake Simcoe/southeastern Georgian Bay clean-up fund is earmarked for community-based projects that reduce phosphorus inputs from urban and rural sources, restore fish and aquatic habitat and populations and address near shore toxic and nuisance algae growth.
Located north of Toronto, Lake Simcoe is the largest lake outside of the Great Lakes in southern Ontario.
The new federal fund continues on from the previous $30 million Lake Simcoe clean up fund. That money supported 160 community projects and reduced phosphorus discharges into Lake Simcoe by three tonnes per year, according to Environment Canada’s website.
Some of the projects included installing 20,000 metres of fencing to restrict livestock from watercourses, planting more than 72,000 trees, shrubs and grasses to stabilize shorelines and reduce phosphorus runoff, upgrading 110 septic systems, developing an optimization manual for a sewage treatment plant and implementing storm water pond retrofits in several municipalities.
Environment Canada spokesperson Mark Johnson says by email the Lake Simcoe clean up fund focused on priority projects in the lake’s watershed aimed at reducing phosphorous inputs, enhancing research and monitoring capacity and restoring the cold-water fishery and aquatic habitat. The new program “will build upon the initial phase and expand its reach into southeastern Georgian Bay,” he writes.
Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Mark Wales says with the government funding, farmers with approved environmental farm plans were able to get 75 per cent of their projects funded through the Lake Simcoe farm stewardship program, which is far greater than the 30 per cent of funding they can get with only environmental farm plan grants for their projects. In addition, the program provided funding for septic system upgrades, which aren’t covered under the environmental farm plan program.
“Septic systems are a real problem,” says Wales, who sits on the Lake Simcoe coordinating committee. “There are so many cottages around the shoreline (of Lake Simcoe) and homes along the tributaries.”
Wales says “they really don’t know how many septic systems there are or how many are even working.” Providing incentives to upgrade septic systems was “seen as one way to help reduce the phosphorus loading.” BF
Comments
Lets put this in perspective 30 million dollars over 5 yrs gets you 15 tonnes of phosphorous clean up. That's almost as one-sided as supply management. All we need to do is figure out where all that money went!
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