The Rural Voice, 2019-09, Page 22to step forward and work together for
environmental resiliency,” said Cann.
Rick Kootstra was also on the
panel, giving the
commissioners a farmer’s
perspective as well as representing
the Huron Soil and Crop
Improvement Association (HSCIA).
“I think we all need to ask
ourselves what our discharge rate is
into the lake,” said Kootstra. “We
can blame everyone else, but we
have to look at ourselves.”
Kootstra says he has a farming
mentor in Ohio who, through BMPs
such as cover cropping and no-till
farming, can take 16 inches of rain
before his fields discharge water into
the tiles. “When that water gets to the
tile, his parts per million (ppm) of
contamination is zero. How is he
doing it? Can we do it here?” The
Ohio farmer’s organic matter is eight
per cent. Most farms in Ontario are
around four per cent.
“Soil health goes hand in hand
with good drainage,” said Kootstra.
“It’s like one hand holds the other.”
Taking it further, Mel Luymes
then shared the success of the
HSCIA’s drainage project behind
Huronview in Clinton. (See the
August issue of The Rural Voice for
the full story).
Luymes explained that tile
drainage is basically a plastic pipe
with holes in it that takes excess
water away from the field. It creates
an ideal environment for plants that
cannot thrive in saturated soil.
However, it can drain a field too
quickly and lead to damaged and
polluted waterways.
The drainage project installed
controls in the drainage system by
way of control gates and terraces.
“The whole idea is to slow water
because then it does not erode,”
explained Luymes. She said it was a
very exciting project, aligning many
partners who all have the same goal:
water quality.
Phil Beard took the theme of
collaboration and partnerships a step
further by sharing the success of the
Healthy Lake Huron collaborative.
Formed 10 years ago, the
collaborative started addressing the
sources of pollution running off from
both rural and urban sources.
“The focus was to improve water
18 The Rural Voice
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Huron-Bruce Matters
Lisa Thompson
MPP Huron-Bruce