Barrie Creeks, Lovers Creek, and Hewitt's Creek Subwatershed Plan

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The Barrie Creeks, Lovers Creek and Hewitt’s Creek Subwatershed Plan by the MOE related to these Permits. The LSPP also directs the MOE and MNR to develop instream flow targets for water quantity stressed subwatersheds, which include the Barrie Creeks, Lovers Creek, and Hewitt’s Creek subwatersheds. When completed, these targets are to be used to inform future strategies related to water taking, which may include policies that identify how much water can be allocated among users in a subwatershed, including setting aside an allocation to support the natural functions of the ecosystem. Results of these Tier 2 water budgets and instream flow targets are also intended to inform municipal water conservation plans, which the LSPP requires the City of Barrie and Town of Innisfil to prepare and implement. These plans are intended to establish targets for water conservation and efficiency, identify water conservation measures such as the use of flowrestricting devices and other hardware, and practices and technologies associated with water reuse and recycling, as well as methods for promoting water conservation including full-cost pricing for residents on municipal water supplies, and public education and awareness programs for rural residents not on municipal water systems. Water conservation and stewardship is also to be promoted in the agricultural, recreational, commercial, and industrial sectors, through partnerships between government agencies and key private stakeholders. 4.5.2 Restoration and remediation Although neither the Provincial government (through the Lake Simcoe Community Stewardship Program) nor the LSRCA (through the Landowner Environmental Assistance Program) have funding for stewardship projects specific to issues related to water quantity, projects such as retrofitting on-line ponds and planting trees and shrubs which are supported by those programs will have benefits related to reducing evaporation, and increasing groundwater recharge. These projects are described in more detail in chapters 3, 5, and 6. The Environmental Farm Plan program, which is a partnership between the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association does support projects specifically directed at managing water use on farms. Projects supported through the Environmental Farm Plan include infrastructure to support water use efficiency, including both in-barn and irrigation equipment, and support for establishing off-line irrigation ponds to reduce water taking demands on surface water features. Several dozen such projects have been implemented on farmland in the Barrie and Innisfil area. 4.5.3 Science and research As a result of the tragedy in Walkerton in 2000, and the subsequent Clean Water Act and Source Protection Planning process, the amount of research conducted on water quantity and ground water movement in the Lake Simcoe watershed increased exponentially. The development of the South Georgian Bay – Lake Simcoe Source Protection Plan was supported by the establishment of a subwatershed-scale water budget, which described the movement of water among hydrologic elements in the watershed (e.g. wetlands, soils, aquifers), and the extractions of this water for human use. These budgets, and associated stress assessments also formed a significant part of the data used in drafting this subwatershed plan. Another important component of the Source Protection Plan was the identification of ‘Significant Groundwater Recharge Areas’. These areas are locations where surficial geology and hydraulic gradient tend to support a relatively high volume of water recharging into aquifers. More recently, the LSPP has directed LSRCA to identify ‘Ecologically Significant Groundwater Chapter 4: Water Quantity – Surface and Groundwater 203
The Barrie Creeks, Lovers Creek and Hewitt’s Creek Subwatershed Plan Recharge Areas.’ This new class of recharge area is identified based on ecological interactions, rather than volume of water. To identify these areas, reverse particle tracking models have been developed based on groundwater models created as part of the Source Protection Planning process, to identify areas which contribute groundwater to sensitive surface features such as wetlands and coldwater streams (Figures 4-15 and 4-16). In order to support water budgeting and other watershed-scale modelling, LSRCA manages a network of 12 climate stations (including precipitation gauges), and 15 surface water flow stations (in partnership with the Water Survey of Canada). These stations provide monthly stream flow data, which can be used to monitor mean, median and baseflow conditions for many of Lake Simcoe’s subwatersheds. For further information on research and monitoring related to water budgeting, see the Source Water Protection Assessment Report: Lakes Simcoe and Couchiching- Black River Source Protection Area (South Georgian Bay-Lake Simcoe Source Protection Committee, 2011). 4.6 Management Gaps and Recommendations As described in the previous sections, there are a number of regulations and municipal requirements aimed at protecting water quantity of the Barrie, Lovers and Hewitt’s Creeks subwatersheds already exist. Despite this strong foundation, there are gaps in the management framework that need to be considered. This section identifies some of the gaps in the existing protection of the water quantity in the Barrie, Lovers and Hewitt’s Creeks subwatersheds, and outlines recommendations to help fill these gaps. It is recognized that many of the undertakings in the following set of recommendations are dependent on funding from all levels of government. Should there be financial constraints, it may affect the ability of the partners to achieve these recommendations. These constraints will be addressed in the implementation phase 4.6.1 Water Demand Recommendation 4-1 - That the LSRCA and subwatershed municipalities promote and support low impact design (LID) solutions such as rainwater harvesting, rain gardens, and grey water reuse to manage stormwater and supplement residential water use. Recommendation 4-2 - That the MOE be encouraged to continue to improve the Water Taking Reporting System by integrating the Permit To Take Water (PTTW) database with the Water Well Information System (WWIS) database, and connecting those takings to wells / aquifers to facilitate impact assessment (i.e. the PTTW database needs to be connected to the WWIS database). 4.6.2 Ecological Flows Recommendation 4-3 - That the MNR and MOE, in partnership with LSRCA, develop a more detailed surface water budget for the Barrie Creeks, Lovers Creek, and Hewitt’s Creek subwatersheds that will provide basis of actions needed to determine ecological (instream) flow targets. Recommendation 4-4 – That the MOE, with assistance from LSRCA, MNR and the University of Guelph, determine in-stream flow regime targets for Barrie, Lovers, Hewitt’s, and Innisfil Creeks. These targets should be based on the Guidance Document framework (LSRCA 2010) which is being used for the Maskinonge River subwatershed. Chapter 4: Water Quantity – Surface and Groundwater 204
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Barrie Creeks, Lovers Creek, and He
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Acknowledgements The Barrie Creeks,
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• East of the Barrie Creeks subwa
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Fish Habitat -Fish communities in t
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Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS
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3.5.4 Water Temperature - thermal d
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5.3.11 Climate Change 237 5.4 ASSES
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6.5.10 Improving data management 31
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LIST OF FIGURES CHAPTER 1 Figure 1-
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Figure 2-34: Annual precipitation (
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CHAPTER 4 Figure 4-1: Hydrologic cy
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Figure 5-11: Pathways by which impe
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Figure 7-11: Riparian area with app
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Table 3-4: Surface water quality co
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CHAPTER 5 Table 5-1: Fish species c
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The Barrie Creeks, Lovers Creek and
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Creek ANNE ST N BAYFIELD ST N LINE
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FERNDALE DR N ANNE ST N BAYFIELD ST
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7.4 Urban interactions - land use,
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Figure 7-9: An urban landscape with
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7.5 In-stream interactions - activi
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Barrie Creeks, Lovers Creek, and Hewitt's Creek Subwatershed Plan

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