Evergreen demonstrates human impact on streams in Richmond Hill

YorkRegion.com
July 12, 2014
By Jay Gutteridge

All the suds from washing your car roll off the driveway and flow into the storm sewer.

Eventually, those suds will make it into the local storm water pond and the local creek or stream.

Making the connection between what happens in your driveway and the impacts on the local watershed is the purpose of Evergreen's new program, Uncover Your Creeks.

Evergreen is a national organization dedicated to bringing awareness about the environment to urban areas.

The newly funded program tests the water five times a year at four different locations across the GTA, including Richmond Hill's Pioneer Park, off Major Mackenzie Drive, west of Yonge Street.

"Most residents don't know what a watershed is," program manager Ashley Wallis said.

"Our goal is to get residents thinking about what they do at home and how that will impact the urban watershed."

And the first step is recognizing how runoff water affects local streams or creeks.

Storm water or run off water is not processed through a water treatment facility, Wallis said.

"Whatever runs off the road goes right into the natural water system,” she said. "That includes all the salt on the roads,  suds when you wash your car and fertilizer from your grass."

Waste water from the shower, sink or toilet is treated before it goes back into the watershed, she added. Even water from a car wash bay is treated.

The creek in Pioneer Park is part of the Don River watershed and empties into Lake Ontario, and you can see the impact of salt on the Don River, which used to freeze solid.

While this year was one of the coldest on record, the river did not entirely freeze, Wallis said.

"There is too much salt for the river to be frozen," she said. "If people begin to realize storm water goes into the lake untreated, maybe that will change behaviour. That would be a huge first step."

The program teaches residents how to check the quality and health of local creeks through a series of tests measuring the dissolved oxygen, PH, nitrite and phosphate levels in the water, as well as the water temperature, amount of suspended material and prevalence of certain water invertebrates.

The program in the GTA is mirrored after the Uncover Your Creeks program in British Columbia that has been running for more than a year and a half.

The goal is to have this year's data feed into the B.C. program, so Evergreen can monitor trends, Wallis said.

SIDEBAR

There are three more water testing events at Pioneer Park in Richmond Hill Aug. 9, Sept. 13 and Oct. 11, 10 a.m. to noon. For more information, visit evergreen.ca.