2002 Stream Testing

Comments on 2001

The Ashfield-Colborne Lakefront Association, faced with increasing beach closures and pollution rates from 1990 to 2000, embarked on a stream-testing project in 2001.

In partnership with the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority, ACLA conducted bi-weekly tests from early May to late November at 12 stream locations along highway #21 from Amberley to Dunlop. Maitland Valley Conservation Authority selected the sites, chose the testing labs, trained the volunteers, collated the results and published a final report. ACLA raised the funds, provided the sampling volunteers and published the results.

The results of the fund raising were gratifying. Over 90% of the beach associations and many individuals contributed raising approximately $6,500. The Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh council contributed $1,500.

Summary

The results of the water testing were not as gratifying. Despite a very dry summer, the pollution levels in the 12 streams were very high. Testing was done for E.coli, nitrate and phosphate. A total of 173 samples were taken over the 30-week period with a total of 7 volunteers participating in collecting the samples.

Both the nitrate and phosphate weighted averages exceeded Maitland Valley's maximums for safe water conditions by approximately 10%.

The E.coli results were considerably worse. The Provincial Water Quality Regulation limit for recreational water is 100 parts per 100 ml. If a public beach exceeds this limit twice, the beach is posted by the Huron County Health Unit as unsafe for swimming.

The weighted average of the water entering Lake Huron from the 12 streams was 1102 ... 11 times the PWRQ limit.
McNain Drain showed results of 21,400 and 17,000 ... 214 times and 170 times the PWRQ limits.
Kerry's Creek at Kintail averaged 1500.
Nine Mile River at Port Albert averaged 666 ... almost 7 times the PWRQ limits. The volume of water entering the lake from Nine-Mile River in 2001 would cover an area of 55 square kilometres 5 metres deep.
Every stream had records exceeding 1,500.

What was the effect of this stream pollution on our beaches?

The average Health Unit beach test in 2001 was 275 ... 2.75 times the PWQR limit.
Each beach had tests exceeding 1,500 with Amberley recording 5,200 on one day and Kintail 4,400 on another day.
53% of all tests exceeded the PWQR limit.
E.coli can survive in lakebed sediment up to 13 months.
ACW beaches were closed a total of 140 days between June 1 and August 31.

ACLA conclusions

Serious levels of E.coli pollution exist in all streams at all times.
Significant runoff occurs during rainfall increasing E.coli levels.
The resulting pollution is injurious to health, enjoyment, property values and the reputation of our community.
At those locations where streams enter the lake at public beach locations, separate HCHU signs should be posted warning of high pollution levels in the streams.

Test results were presented to the Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh council in May and to the ACW Nutrient Management Plan public meeting in March.

Written and verbal submissions were made to the Bill 81 (Nutrient Management Legislation) committee in June 2002.

The results will also be presented to the Huron County Health Committee on June 11, 2002.

Approximately 70 copies of a ACLA press release containing the MVCA report, our comments, and Huron County Health Unit beach records will be distributed to provincial and federal cabinet ministers and local members, various newspapers, radio and television stations and environmental groups.

2002 Stream Testing

Based on the MVCA assessment of pollution loads from the streams creating the highest pollution, we have decided to conduct upstream testing on Kerry's Creek, Nine-Mile River, and Boundary Creek. McNain Drain was eliminated as a site due to the limited flow creating testing difficulties.

Each of the three streams will be tested at 5 locations starting at highway #21 and working east in an attempt to isolate point source pollution or runoff. Results will be accumulated and testing locations adjusted as necessary. Specific instances of spills or dumping will be reported to the Township and the Ministry of the Environment.

A request has been made to ACW Council for another $1,500 contribution towards our testing this year. Beach associations will be asked to contribute $10 per paid member to ACLA funding stream testing, meetings and normal expenses. Individuals wishing to contribute directly to the stream testing can also make donations.

We welcome your comments. We will attend your cottage association meetings to answer questions. Thanks for your support.

E.Coli (cfu/100ml)

Yellow -- Exceeds recreation limit (100 cfu/100ml), but less than 1000.

Red -- Over 1000. Microbiologists often consider an order of magnitude (10 fold) as a significant difference.

stream	site	May 15	May 29	June 12	June 26	July 10	July 24	Aug 07	Aug 21	Sept 4
Kerry's Creek	A4-1	30	4	2100	60	150	140	130	40	600
	A4-2	170	20	3200	530	280	330	310	510	860
	A4-3	400	<1	8100	60	190	180	190	280	550
	A4-4	60	30	6100	100	220	810	520	830	510
	A4-5	40	110	14000	7000	850	NF	NF	NF	710
Nine Mile River	A8-1	10	1	2400	80	100	160	90	240	230
	A8-2	30	<1	13000	90	640	140	100	40	490
	A8-3	100	<1	9300	140	100	120	120	90	250
	A8-4	110	9	26000	140	550	750	460	690	230
	A8-5	70	90	5100	140	60	180	240	200	240
	A8-6							1000	980	610
Boundary Creek	A9-1	70	74	1300	830	510	850	360	770	30
	A9-2	90	100	7500	2900	50	190	1200	650	1200
	A9-3	120	50	5200	4900	700	230	2200	13000	330
	A9-4	200	115	7800	1400	1600	<10	1900	1200	1300
	A9-5	400	110	1400	340	290	30	350	200	400

Nitrate

Red -- Exceeds MVCA target for healthy fish and amphibian eggs ... 4 mg/L of nitrate.

stream	site	May 15	May 29	June 12	June 26	July 10	July 24	Aug 07	Aug 21	Sept 04
Kerry's Creek	A4-1	7.62	5.15	6.53	6.18	2.18	1.83	1.55	1.20	<0.1
	A4-2	7.11	5.37	6.62	6.77	2.98	3.11	2.56	2.54	3.23
	A4-3	7.6	6.76	<0.1	6.44	3.86	4.24	3.84	4.23	4.83
	A4-4	7.72	7.45	18.7	8.2	5.60	5.82	5.31	5.72	6.59
	A4-5	9.49	9.08	30.4	12.4	5.39	NF	NF	NF	4.48
Nine Mile River	A8-1	2.03	2.5	6.48	3.09	1.99	1.88	1.47	1.66	1.93
	A8-2	2.03	2.37	4.05	2.74	3.57	1.91	1.58	1.86	2.35
	A8-3	2.15	2.35	4.97	2.81	2.16	2.05	1.91	2.02	2.14
	A8-4	2.38	2.63	7.58	3.95	3.08	2.90	2.74	3.30	4.04
	A8-5	1.89	2.12	4.7	2.28	1.68	1.64	1.42	1.65	2.16
	A8-6							2.85	3.24	4.29
Boundary Creek	A9-1	4.7	3.67	5.74	6.24	2.81	1.36	0.89	0.13	0.11
	A9-2	4.71	3.92	5.07	6.19	1.91	2.29	1.54	0.70	0.29
	A9-3	4.83	4.28	4.16	6.64	3.66	2.74	1.80	1.87	1.63
	A9-4	4.06	3.99	4.7	6.59	3.83	3.11	2.36	2.60	2.48
	A9-5	2.68	3.01	5.12	5.71	3.53	3.68	3.01	3.61	3.91

Dissolved Orthophosphate, percent

Red -- Exceeds MVCA target to avoid excessive algae growth ... 0.02 mg/L of phosphate.

stream	site	May 15	May 29	June 12	June 26	July 10	July 24	Aug 07	Aug 21	Sept 04
Kerry's Creek	A4-1	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01
	A4-2	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01
	A4-3	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	0.01	0.01
	A4-4	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01
	A4-5	<0.01	<0.01	0.09	<0.01	0.04	NF
Nine Mile River	A8-1	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01
	A8-2	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	0.02	<0.01
	A8-3	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	0.01
	A8-4	<0.01	<0.01	0.05	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01
	A8-5	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	0.01
	A8-6
Boundary Creek	A9-1	<0.01	0.01	<0.01	0.01	0.02	0.02	<0.01	0.01	<0.01
	A9-2	<0.01	<0.01	0.01	0.01	<0.01	0.05	0.02	0.05	<0.01
	A9-3	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	0.01	0.03	0.02	0.06	0.07
	A9-4	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01	<0.01	0.01	0.01
	A9-5	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01

Commentary: Mike McElhone. Tables: Heinz Puhlmann; last updated 2002-09-04.