Builders urged to give Great Lakes some space

[Spiel]

Builders urged to give Great Lakes some space

Environmentalists cheer Ontario's support for varying water levels

 

Apr 24, 2008

Peter Gorrie, Environment Reporter / thestar.com

 

 

People are building homes and cottages too close to Lake Ontario and the other Great Lakes, environmentalists say.

 

The comments came yesterday after the province endorsed a control plan for Lake Ontario that would let water levels fluctuate more than they do now, in a way that mimics nature.

 

In doing so, Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield said she disagreed with a plan recommended last month by the International Joint Commission that would keep lake levels more stable than their natural state.

 

For the past half-century, dams have controlled the flow of water out of Lake Ontario into the St. Lawrence River and have been used to reduce fluctuations in water levels. Environmentalists say that destroys wetlands and other shoreline habitats for fish and birds, which require varying water levels.

 

The commission – created by the Canadian and U.S. federal governments to deal with transborder water issues – said it was trying to balance environmental concerns with the need to protect shoreline property owners from being flooded out by high levels or left high and dry when the water goes down.

 

But that plan "won't do enough to sustain the health of the lake and the river in the long term," Cansfield told a Toronto conference on energy and the Great Lakes.

 

The province prefers an option that "takes steps toward emulating the natural pattern of water flow and level variability," she said. "We believe our choice would be better for the environment ... offering greater protection for wetland habitats that support many species, including some that are at risk."

 

New York state already opposes the commission's plan and prefers the "greener" alternative that Cansfield endorsed. It would let levels vary about 200 centimetres more than the commission plan.

 

Environmentalists welcomed Ontario's decision, and suggested it's time to stop, and possibly reverse, shoreline development.

 

"We shouldn't be building that close to the water," said John Jackson, of Great Lakes United. "You respect the lake, so you stand back from it a little."

 

"We need to move back from the edge," said Tony Maas, of World Wildlife Federation. Such a policy would be "challenging," Maas said. Some shoreline owners have called for water levels even more stable than they are now.

 

But other means of shoreline protection, including breakwalls and boulder piles, are as bad for the environment as keeping the lake levels too stable, he said.

 

Cansfield acknowledged that "there may be a need to consider mitigation measures to ensure effective shoreline management."

 

But it's "premature to look at what mitigation would be" until the commission makes a final decision on the control plan later this year, she said in an interview.