The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutAgriculture 2002, 2002-03-13, Page 4Oldfield Pro Hardware has all your Agricultural Supplies • Alflex Ear Tags • Tattoos • Feeders • Ventilations • Galvanized pipe cut and threaded to length • Come in and see the Kitec award winning plumbing system • Ritchie Watering Fountains • Pressure Systems for home and farm • Fencers & Fencing Systems • Purina Dog & Cat Food Came eat at the tarn &matingg, tile a *ao,e with etaittee 4 eueept Cato-glee fax men (;tar Choice clearly the best Choice. — now the only Canadian direct to home satellite provider capable of broadcasting from two satellites, which gives you more entertainment choices than ever before. Come in and see the crystal clear image and listen to Dolby surround sound at Oldfield's. OLDFIELD PRO HARDWARE & RADIOSHACK Brussels 887-6851 r7 :4) RadioShack .TeliyurallIIIII11101111111111111 .,111 Order Dates • March 28 for pickup Friday, April 26 or • April 26 for pickup Friday, May 24 • We have a complete line of SHUR-GAIN Homestead Feeds and Animal Health Products as well as feeders, waterers, heat lamps, baled shavings etc. DAUPHIN FEED & SUPPLY Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m.- 5p.m. Sat. 9 a.m.- noon Serving our friends and neighbours in the farming communities with quality products and personalized service, for the past 16 years. DUNGANNON 1-800-665-5675 WALTON 529-7951 Fax 529-3341 887-6023 SHUR-GAIN IIIIIIIhagilld Also available: Turkeys, Geese, Ducks, Layers 2002 Chick Days Chicks - Sexed or Mixed PAGE A-4. THE CMZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2002. Agriculture 2002 Pointing fingers won't solve watershed problems Water, water everywhere The rapid runoff in the Maitland watershed can make that literally true for some low-lying lands. Even a short thaw or limited amount of rain has an immediate and dramatic effect on the streams and rivers. (David Blaney photo) By David Blaney Citizen staff We have all seen the ugly gray foam below the dams that dot the Maitland River. We have all heard the health department advisories saying the coliform count is too high to swim at the beach. Everyone has their own idea -on who caused it too. It's the farmers who let their cattle wade in the creeks and streams and spread too much manure to close to the water- course. It's the municipalities that discharge sewage intb the river when their treatment plants overflow. It's the rural home and cottage owners with inadequate septic systems. It's the urban homeowners who connect their sump pumps directly to sani- tary sewers causing them to over- flow during heavy rains. It's easy to point fingers but hard to accept the fact that Walt Kelly's character Pogo was right, "We have met the enemy and he is us." The water action team of the Maitland Watershed Partnerships is one attempt to move beyond blame to concrete action. They describe their mission as 'working together to protect and improve water quality and quantity.' Some of that work has already started according to Scott Tousaw, senior planner for Huron County. He points to the new forestry bylaw, which encourages the proper man- agement of natural areas and the pro- posed manure management bylaw as county measures aiding water quali- ty. He also cautions that some of the problems have causes not easy to diagnose. A change in wind direction can cause previously deposited pol- lutants to wash in to the beaches. These get. mixed with local pollu- tants and upstream runoff making the identification of cause and loca- tion a painstaking and potentially controversial process. Rick Steele a planner for the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority also cautions against any oversimplification of the problem. He points out that when they tried to isolate the worst problems geograph- ically they discovered that "some years it was one area and some years it was another." The team did however find some specific trouble spots. The Middle Maitland River is at the head of the - watershed and can suffer from a lack of adequate flow during dry condi- tions. Steele said, "Below Listowel the water from the sewage plant can be up to half the flow in the summer because the Maitland is surface water and the flow is low during the summer." Heavy metals, above the drinking water limit had been discovered in the Middle Maitland in this area. He also said that PCBs above the aquat- ic protect limit had been discovered in fish at the mouths of the Maitland River and the Nine Mile River. Despite the daunting problems involved, the water team came up with several targets and, action plans to meet them. They want to encour- age landowners in the watershed to adopt best management practices including nutrient management plans, buffer strips beside waterways and fencing to prevent cattle from entering streams. Funding programs aiding landowners will be pursued and var- ious members of the Maitland Valley Partnership will help with technical and financial advice. The team's report notes that the majority of watershed residents obtain drinking water from ground- water and support the proper decom- missioning of abandoned wells. They also would like to see the map- ping of well catchment areas and policies preventing contaminates from being applied in these areas. E. coli levels have been targeted with the goal of reducing them to the recreational swimming limit after heavy rains in all watercourses dur- ing the next twenty years. This will require that sewage plants strictly adhere to effluent guidelines and that septic systems are upgraded and maintained. Farm organizations will be encouraged to identify and imple- ment drainage best management practices to reduce the nitrates and other contaminates. As would be expected in an agri- cultural area the subject of tile drainage causes some controversy. Environmental groups point out that wetlands have a significant ability to remove pollutants from water and n't be effective. Phil Beard, the gen- eral manager of the MVCA also sug- gested that the landowners and the water team might not always have been interested in the same projects.. Beard went on to say, "Farm oper- ators believe government should be contributing more because there are public benefits to these projects and they don't necessarily help their (the farmers') bottom line." There are encouraging signs. The Healthy Futures program had two- thirds of the money set aside for sep- tic system improvements spoken for in just three months and a program to assist in the proper decommissioning of wells has also proved popular. Tousaw says, "The farm commu- nity is showing a willingness to work for improvement." He believes that cottage owners are starting to recognize the role inadequate septic systems play in lake pollution. Beard also sounds an optimistic note saying, "Landowners in this area have always been ahead of Ontario." that tile drains speed the flow of bac- ,teria into streams and rivers. These groups also point out that by inducing rapid runoff, draing hamper ground water recharge. On the other hand, Steele said he had heard the argument made that, "If drains weren't there we would have more ground water nitrogen." Farmers simply point out that workable land is necessary if they are to make a living. What is known is that drainage affects water flow by moving water more directly to streams. As Steele points out, we have created a rural ,_ landscape in which the action of water is beginning to mirror that of Water on the urban landscape. To deal with the problems landowners are going to. have to be convinced to take action and this is not always easy. Both Beard and Steele admit attempts at establishing pilot projects in two areas of the watershed met with limited success, even after perceived barriers to implementation were addressed. Steele noted there was the percep- tion that one person's actions could-