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9 Th Annual Grand River Watershed Water Forum<br />

Exploring Grand – Erie Connections:<br />

Flow, Quality and Ecology<br />

<strong>Dwight</strong> <strong>Boyd</strong>, Senior Water Resources Engineer, GRCA<br />

Sandra Cooke, Senior Water Quality Supervisor, GRCA<br />

Warren Yerex, Supervisor Aquatic Services, GRCA (retired)


9 Th Annual Grand River Watershed Water Forum<br />

Tracing the Flow


Grand River In Context to Great Lakes<br />

The Upper Great Lakes Outlet at Lake Huron with a<br />

drainage area of 599,000 km 2<br />

Grand<br />

River<br />

Thames<br />

River<br />

Grand River Watershed<br />

drainage area 6,800 km 2<br />

Maumee<br />

River<br />

Lake Erie<br />

Lake Erie Outlets at Niagara Falls with a<br />

Direct Drainage 84,500 Figure kmfrom 2 Co-ordinated drainage Great Lakes area Physical of 683,000 Data km 1977<br />

2


Grand River In Context to Great Lakes


Lake Erie – Grand River Flows<br />

The Upper Great Lakes Outlet at Lake Huron mean<br />

annual flow 5300 m 3 /s<br />

1930’s drought<br />

1960’s drought<br />

Late 1990’s early 2000’s drought<br />

Grand River Watershed<br />

mean annual flow 80 m 3 /s<br />

Negative local flow can result from evaporation losses of Lake Erie.<br />

Even though Grand River flows make up only a small portion of the local<br />

and over all flow to Lake Erie they are still important.<br />

Mean annual local flow to<br />

Lake Erie 600 m 3 /s<br />

Lake Erie Outlets at Niagara Falls mean<br />

annual flow 5900 m 3 /s


Lake Erie Volume – Grand River Flow Volume


Lake Erie Water Levels


Great Lakes Grand River Land Use<br />

The Grand River watershed is<br />

predominately rural with urban<br />

centres in the central portion.<br />

Note intense agriculture and population in southern Ontario<br />

and the northeastern US impact the quantity and quality of<br />

water delivered to the Great Lakes.


Great Lakes Grand River Population


Grand River Watershed – Linkage to Lake Erie<br />

Understanding or conceptualizing linkages within the<br />

watershed is the starting point to considering linkages to<br />

Lake Erie and the Great Lakes in general.<br />

Functional Units on the Landscape<br />

Functional Linkages to the River<br />

Functional River Reaches<br />

Human Intervention or<br />

influence on functional<br />

processes.<br />

Urbanization, drainage,<br />

dams, nutrient load<br />

River Reaches Connection to Lake Erie


Grand River - Surface Geology<br />

• Underlying physics of the watershed.<br />

• Geological characteristics will influence<br />

what water enters the ground versus what<br />

water runs off.<br />

• There are three distinct areas in the Grand<br />

River watershed.<br />

1. northern till plains<br />

2. central moraines and sand plains<br />

3. southern clay plain<br />

• The Grand River Fisheries Management<br />

Plan uses these functional areas to help<br />

guide fisheries management objectives.<br />

• The geology affects water quality. Finer<br />

materials in the clay and till plains are<br />

easily suspended, they stay in suspended in<br />

the water column. They may also carry<br />

attached nutrient to the river.<br />

• Porous soils in the central moraines require<br />

high nutrient applications to be productive<br />

farm lands. A portion of the applied<br />

nutrients enter the groundwater system<br />

and ultimately the river.


Grand River - Moraines<br />

Moraines are some of the<br />

thickest deposits in the<br />

watershed<br />

• The Orangeville, Paris and<br />

Waterloo Moraines in the<br />

Grand River Watershed<br />

play a very important<br />

hydrologic role.<br />

• These moraines have a<br />

rolling topography with<br />

closed drainage systems.<br />

• The water trapped on the<br />

moraine helps to naturally<br />

moderate floods and<br />

facilitates infiltration to<br />

the ground water system.


Grand River – Moraine Hummocky Topography<br />

Photos from upper Blair – March 2003 G. Rungis<br />

Depression storage example waterloo moraine


Hydrologic Response Units<br />

Surface Geology<br />

Land Cover<br />

Moraine Closed Drainage<br />

(Hummocky Topography)


Grand River – Functional Recharge Areas<br />

• Results from hydrologic modeling<br />

were used to estimate where recharge<br />

is occurring across the watershed.<br />

• These results help define functional<br />

recharge units on the landscape. By<br />

classifying these recharge the<br />

significance of these functional<br />

recharge units can be depicted.<br />

1. 15% of the total area, and<br />

produces 30% of the recharge<br />

2. 30% of the total area, and<br />

produces 60% of the recharge<br />

3. 40% of the total area, and<br />

produces 75% of the recharge<br />

4. Remaining 60% of the total area<br />

produces 25% of the recharge


Grand – Groundwater Linkages<br />

Groundwater is linked back to the river and<br />

the Great Lakes through three main linkages.<br />

These include:<br />

1.Groundwater discharge to water courses and<br />

wetlands.<br />

•Some of the strongest groundwater discharge<br />

occurs<br />

• along the Grand River south of Cambridge<br />

to Brantford<br />

• along the Nith River from New Hamburg to<br />

Paris<br />

• along the lower Whiteman's Creek<br />

•On average as much as 5 to 6 m3/s of groundwater<br />

flows into the river through these reaches providing<br />

important fisheries habitat and assimilative capacity.<br />

2.The other unseen linkage is through the<br />

groundwater system to the Great lakes through the<br />

bedrock or buried bedrock valleys. One example is<br />

the Dundas bedrock valley.<br />

3.Through human use, main example being<br />

municipal water supplies that return water to the<br />

river or Great Lakes through effluent discharges.


Grand River – Runoff Areas<br />

• Results from hydrologic modeling were used<br />

to estimate where runoff is occurring across<br />

the watershed.<br />

• These results help define functional runoff<br />

units on the landscape. By classifying these<br />

runoff units the significance of these<br />

functional units can be depicted.<br />

• High runoff area are associated with high<br />

sediment deliver that has an implications to<br />

water quality. These areas are also have<br />

implications to flooding.<br />

1. 10% of the total area, and produces 25%<br />

of the runoff<br />

2. 30% of the total area, and produces 60%<br />

of the runoff<br />

3. 45% of the total area, and produces 80%<br />

of the runoff<br />

4. Remaining 55% of the total area produces<br />

20% of the runoff


Grand River – Runoff Linkages<br />

• Runoff is delivered back to the river<br />

primarily through streams and wetlands.<br />

• Large portions of the watershed have<br />

been drained. Municipal drains have<br />

been implemented to help move water<br />

off the landscape and to facilitate<br />

agriculture.<br />

• Tile drainage creates a direct link to<br />

watercourses and can have an impact on<br />

water quality and quantity in streams.<br />

• The Rural Water Quality Program and the<br />

Environmental Farm Plan help<br />

landowners with best management<br />

practices to improve and protect water<br />

quality.<br />

• Urban drainage modifies the hydrologic<br />

regime of both surface and groundwater;<br />

including flooding, stream erosion and<br />

water quality components.<br />

• The sub watershed planning and storm<br />

water management programs strive to<br />

comprehensively identify, maintain and<br />

restore key hydrologic functions. The aim<br />

is to maintain or improve water quality<br />

of lands converted to urban land use.


Grand River – Runoff Linkages Flow Regulation<br />

Lake Elevation (m)<br />

1-Jan<br />

16-Jan<br />

31-Jan<br />

15-Feb<br />

2-Mar<br />

17-Mar<br />

1-Apr<br />

16-Apr<br />

1-May<br />

16-May<br />

31-May<br />

15-Jun<br />

30-Jun<br />

15-Jul<br />

30-Jul<br />

14-Aug<br />

29-Aug<br />

13-Sep<br />

28-Sep<br />

13-Oct<br />

28-Oct<br />

12-Nov<br />

27-Nov<br />

12-Dec<br />

27-Dec<br />

Shand Dam Reservoir Elevation Plot 2008<br />

426.0<br />

424.0<br />

422.0<br />

420.0<br />

418.0<br />

416.0<br />

414.0<br />

412.0<br />

410.0<br />

408.0<br />

Date<br />

Shand Upper Buffer Shand Lower Buffer 2008<br />

Of the 28 sewage treatment plants in<br />

the Grand River Watershed 16<br />

discharge to flow regulated reaches.<br />

Three of the four municipal surface<br />

water supplies are located on flow<br />

regulate reaches.<br />

Major reservoirs act to shift the water<br />

budget, spring surpluses are<br />

transferred to summer months.


Grand – Functional River Reaches<br />

Once water is in the river system different types<br />

of river reaches deliver the water to Lake Erie.<br />

River reaches can be crudely categorized into<br />

three types:<br />

1. Estuary reach at the mouth of the river.<br />

2. Backwater reach typically upstream of small<br />

dams<br />

3. Riffle/Recovery reach where pool, run and riffle<br />

sequence are present and repeat themselves.<br />

Natural processes in recovery reaches metabolize<br />

nutrients and help cleanse water and provide<br />

a diverse habitat<br />

Backwater reaches typically are not healthy<br />

reaches, sediment and nutrients accumulate in<br />

these reaches. Natural processes don’t have the<br />

ability to metabolize and cleanse the water.<br />

Note the long backwater reaches in the southern river,<br />

these reaches affect the quality of water reaching Lake<br />

Erie and the dams at the downstream of these reaches<br />

limit fishery migration and habitat diversity.<br />

The ability of recovery reaches to metabolize nutrients<br />

is analogous to the assimilative capacity of these types<br />

of these reaches.


Functional Connection Lake Erie to the Grand River<br />

Port Maitland Lake Erie Elevation (m)<br />

1/30/08 0:00<br />

1/30/08 3:00<br />

1/30/08 6:00<br />

1/30/08 9:00<br />

1/30/08 12:00<br />

1/30/08 15:00<br />

1/30/08 18:00<br />

1/30/08 21:00<br />

1/31/08 0:00<br />

177<br />

Lake Erie at Port Maitland<br />

January 29th 2008 Lake Surge Event<br />

176.5<br />

176<br />

175.5<br />

175<br />

174.5<br />

174<br />

173.5<br />

Date<br />

Port Maitland Elevation (m) Dunnvile Dam Invert 1986 Event Critical Level<br />

• Water at the mouth of the river is constantly fluctuating and exchanging with the Lake Erie.<br />

• Occasionally these normal fluctuation and oscillations are disturbed by lake surges setup by<br />

wind blowing down Lake Erie or across the lake.<br />

• This surges can development in a matter of hours and push water back up the river flooding<br />

wetlands and marshes and building located in the floodplain.<br />

• Lake surges are part of a natural process and are important to the ecosystem<br />

• Occasionally the lake surge is higher than the crest of Dunnville Dam.


Summary<br />

1. Water flows down hill and what enters the river ends up in<br />

Lake Erie<br />

2. Managing lake issues takes a collective effort of various<br />

technical disciplines, agencies, NGO’s and land owners<br />

3. Dealing with water quality and quantity issues at their<br />

source before water enters the Great Lake is fundamental<br />

4. We need to better technical understand the functional<br />

river reaches<br />

5. Removing river barriers needs to be considered<br />

6. Long term monitoring and research is the foundation to<br />

understanding processes and issues


Credits and Data Sources<br />

• Flow Data from Water Survey of Canada<br />

• Great Lakes co-ordinated data of drainage areas, flows and volumes Chuck<br />

Southam Boundary Waters Issues Unit Environment Canada<br />

• Watershed boundaries Mike Shantz Boundary Waters Issues Unit Environmental<br />

Canada<br />

• Atlas Maps of the Great Lakes, Environment Canada and US Environmental<br />

Protection Agency<br />

• Geology and moraine information, funding bedrock valley exploration, Cam<br />

Baker, Andy Bajr, Ontario Geological Survey<br />

• Andrew Piggott Great Lakes recharge and groundwater information, Canadian<br />

Centre for Inland Waters<br />

• Update recharge-runoff maps S. Shifflett, GRCA<br />

• T. Ryan, Rural Water Quality Program<br />

• G. Rungis Subwatershed Planning and Stormwater Management Programs<br />

• Maps Jeff Pitcher, GRCA

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