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Ottawa River watershed management transcends borders
Rising from its source in Lake Capimitchigama in western Quebec, the Ottawa River flows 1,271 km to Montreal where it spills into the Saint Lawrence River. For much of its route, the Ottawa River divides the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, draining a watershed of 146,000 km² along its way—an area larger than England.
Protecting such an expansive river from pollution presents a challenge because so many authorities have a stake in its administration: provincial and federal government departments, conservation authorities, and municipalities along the river and its dozen-plus major tributaries. This complexity is in fact doubled because the Ottawa River segments both Ontario and Quebec.
A not-for-profit, Canadian environmental organization, Pollution Probe is striving to make it easier for authorities to work together to protect the Ottawa River. “Watersheds are not constrained by municipal, regional, or provincial boundaries,” says Mr. Erik Veldman, Senior Project Manager with Pollution Probe. “There is a growing movement throughout Canada—one that we strongly endorse—to manage watersheds not on a piecemeal basis, but holistically.”
Recognizing that it would be well beyond the organization’s capacity to bring together every authority on both sides of the river along its entire route, Pollution Probe decided to focus on the Ottawa-Gatineau area. Consequently, Pollution Probe targeted five local sub-watersheds, each of which feeds the Ottawa River: the Mississippi, Rideau, and South Nation rivers in Ontario, and the Gatineau and Lièvre rivers in Quebec.
Web mapping contributes to holistic watershed management
Pollution Probe’s first goal was to help the municipalities of Ottawa and Gatineau, and the other authorities who administer these watersheds, to work together. In part with $80,000 in funding from GeoConnections, Pollution Probe developed a web-mapping application called the “Envirobrain.” (The total cost of the project was $160,000.) This web-mapping application is housed on a website known as “Waterplace,” which enables officials to share data and information and plan strategies to protect drinking-water supplies. Pollution Probe hopes that these capabilities will lead to more informed and coordinated decision making and, ultimately, to better safeguarding of the Ottawa River.
“There is no formal network to bring the various authorities together to protect the Ottawa River watershed,” says Mr. Veldman. “We thought that using mapping applications and data-management standards, encouraging the groups to share their data, and applying GeoConnections data standards would be a starting point. We wanted the groups around the same table, seeing the data for the whole region not just their little piece of the pie, and then making decisions based on this holistic approach.”
For instance, an up-river agricultural community that uses fertilizers and pesticides can affect the water quality of those who live and work downstream because these pollutants can easily wash into the river. To lessen the cost of treating polluted water, the downstream parties might decide it worthwhile to pay the upstream community to pare back their farming operations adjacent to the river. This payment can take the form of conservation incentives administered through provincial and federal programs.
Capitalizing on GeoConnections’ expertise
GeoConnections was instrumental in laying the groundwork to turn Pollution Probe’s vision for cooperative watershed management into a reality. The program provided not only funding but also valuable expertise. “We come at source-water protection as an environmental organization,” said Mr. Veldman. “We have knowledge of toxins and pollution and the policies around these issues. What we didn’t have, however, was knowledge about using the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure, discovering data, or developing web-mapping applications. GeoConnections introduced us to these concepts. Their support was extremely useful, and it really advanced and improved what we were trying to accomplish.”
Instead of having to grapple with static spreadsheets and graphs, users of Pollution Probe’s web application can now generate a host of dynamic maps. Where possible, these maps take advantage of the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure’s capacity to connect databases from different sources. Users can then easily integrate multiple data layers to reveal clear pictures of their areas of interest.
Gatineau city planners, for example, might start with a map of municipal boundaries and roads. They could then overlay the local watershed boundaries and identify rivers, creeks, and groundwater-recharge areas. From there, they could introduce zoning boundaries. When complete, the map could enable the planners to more easily point out areas to preserve or develop.
“GeoConnections-endorsed standards enable users to pull all of this data together and produce maps quickly,” said Mr. Veldman. “They no longer have to go to one massive database and sift through data for hours to find the entries they want. It’s a huge time saver and a great convenience.”
Partnership approach essential to watershed management
Because rivers and their tributaries often traverse numerous jurisdictions, properly managing a watershed requires a cooperative partnership approach. By employing web-mapping applications to consider the whole picture—not just their part—the authorities and parties involved are more likely to arrive at solutions that respect the watershed’s health in addition to those affected by its management and use.
The Waterplace website and Envirobrain application are in beta testing now, and Pollution Probe plans to launch both publicly once testing is complete.
Partners include:
Environment Canada
Ville de Gatineau
City of Ottawa
GeoConnections
National Capital Commission
Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
Mississippi Valley Conservation
South Nation Conservation
Ontario Trillium Foundation