Drainage engineers, drainage superintendents tour sites in Huron, Lambton counties to learn innovative practices for municipal drains
Participants learn how nature-based solutions in municipal drains can provide drainage and water management
Almost 50 drainage engineers and municipal drainage superintendents, from southwestern Ontario, toured municipal drains in Huron and Lambton counties on Wednesday, May 17, 2023 to learn about rural green infrastructure and best practices for municipal drains. Attendees visited a number of sites with examples of innovative practices.
Lambton Shores Drainage Superintendent Ryan Griffin provided a tour of a pump drain system and pump house in the Thedford-Klondyke Marsh Area. This low-lying area has no natural outlet for the drained lands so water must be pumped up into the Ausable River and Parkhill Creek. This highly valuable farmland requires effective drainage and it must also meet the demands of water irrigation for crops. This balance is achieved by working with property owners to ensure their needs can be met.
At the Steenstra Drain, Geoff King, Drainage Superintendent for the municipalities of Bluewater and Central Huron, led discussions on innovative drainage design.
Participants learned how integrating nature-based solutions, such as wetlands, and off-line sediment traps, can improve the movement of sediment and water within a watershed. The next stop was the Scott Drain north of Blyth where Maitland Conservation and local landowners have spearheaded several innovative approaches that demonstrate the potential of municipal drainage design. Under the Drainage Act, the definition of a drain is “… a drain constructed by any means.” King, with help from Professional Engineer Jeff Dickson, of R.J. Burnside & Associates Limited (Burnside), fully utilized that definition and incorporated a number of green infrastructure projects at the site that met the needs of the drainage community and the health of the watershed.
Christopher Pfohl, Senior Aquatic Ecologist, from Burnside, demonstrated natural channel design at the Scott Drain. The project design considers the movement of water and sediment utilizing natural channel concepts and providing fish habitat opportunities in the drain design. Watershed Biologist Sarah Snetsinger, of St. Clair Region Conservation Authority, spoke on tile outlet design and the impact it can have on erosion and maintenance needs. Davin Heinbuck, Water Resources Coordinator with Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority, spoke on sinkholes, buffers, and two-stage ditches.
Partners from the Healthy Lake Huron initiative hosted the municipal drainage tour. To learn more about Healthy Lake Huron visit the website at healthylakehuron.ca
Funding for the tour of the municipal drainage innovation project is gratefully acknowledged from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs of the Province of Ontario.
Learn more:
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Love Your Great Lakes ... on August 12 and on every day!
A day to celebrate and protect our Great Lakes, called Love Your Greats Day, is held the second Saturday of every August.
In 2023, this special day is on Saturday, August 12, 2023.
Watch for events taking place all weekend, beginning with a soil health bus tour on Friday, August 11; garbage clean-ups and sorting on Saturday, August 12; and a Stormwater Stroll on Sunday, August 13.
Love Your Greats Day organizers say local citizens like you, and local communities like yours, can take positive actions to protect Lake Huron and the other Great Lakes.
There are many ways you can help Lake Huron.
Find out what those actions are and how you can get involved:
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Managing water and nutrients on Bruce Peninsula
By Mel Luymes
At the end of March 2023, farmers and landowners in the Northern Bruce Peninsula (NBP) met to discuss municipal drains as well as new opportunities for water management. As more grain farmers are buying pastureland on the Peninsula, there are plenty of tile drains being installed and an increasing need for outletting.
Organized by the Bruce Peninsula Biosphere Association (BPBA), the event also highlighted some of the work that the BPBA has been doing on phosphorus reduction structures.
The day began with Stephen Cobean, P. Eng, the drainage superintendent in NBP, who outlined the Drainage Act and a history of drains and watercourses in the area.
Next, Brent Weigel, of Weigel Drainage, presented on how drainage tile is installed and why it works to increase yields.
This was followed by Mel Luymes of Headlands Ag-Enviro who outlined an environmental trade-off of tile drainage, namely the transport of phosphorus and nitrogen to watercourses. She went on to discuss several innovative ways that water can be treated within the drainage system itself. As nutrient loading is a function of both concentration and flow, there are ways to reduce concentrations through slag filters that reduce phosphorus or woodchip bioreactors that reduce nitrogen, and there are ways to reduce the flow through underground control gates or wetland and ponds for drainage water recycling.
After lunch, that was served up by Bear Tracks Inn and Restaurant, John Rodgers outlined the BPBA’s work on phosphorus treatment. Rodgers is BPBA’s research coordinator and has partnered with Dr. Bulent Mutus from the University of Windsor to do research into phosphorus removal media on his farm near Lion’s Head.
Rodgers and Mutus have researched tomato plant roots in the past and are now having success with an iron chloride dried on cedar bark. They have tested both high and low concentrations of phosphorus in water, through both passively drained filters and actively pumped filters. The project involved developing the P sorbent media (carboxymethylcellulose – iron) at a larger scale and testing it in the field. As well, they have designed and tested a controlled drainage structure that could be automatically triggered by remote sensors in other parts of the watershed through Internet of Things (IoT) technology.
This research was funded by Agriculture and Agri-food Canada’s Agri-Science program and also by the Canadian Agricultural Partnership through the Ontario Agri-food Research Initiative administered by Bioenterprise. BPBA is also developing a series of short videos that outline the importance and opportunities of managing water and nutrients within agricultural drainage systems.
Find out more:
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Maitland Conservation creates Coastal Resiliency Initiative
Maitland Valley Conservation Authority hosts Coastal Resiliency Community Workshops in 2023
This summer (2023), Maitland Valley Conservation Authority (MVCA) is hosting two public workshops to discuss the challenges facing the shoreline and to better understand the values of shoreline stakeholders.
Together, according to MVCA, a framework is being built to improve interactions with natural shoreline processes and strive towards a safer more resilient coastal environment.
MVCA will host discussions and share information on dynamic natural features (e.g., beaches and dunes) and shoreline natural hazards (e.g., erosion).
They have identified potential stakeholder groups and organizations that have an interest in coastal resilience.
MVCA is also looking for input from the general shoreline community. Whether you are a recreational beach user, a shoreline landowner, or a small business owner near Lake Huron, organizers say your opinions are integral to the success of this project.
Over the next several years, MVCA will be collaborating with these shoreline community members to build a mutual understanding of coastal resiliency.
MVCA and their shoreline municipalities will soon have up-to-date shoreline hazard mapping and data, furthering insight and understanding of the shoreline and its processes.
This information provides an opportunity to consider how the Lake Huron shoreline has been used, and how this interaction can evolve in the future, for a healthier and less hazardous coast.
Under the Ontario Provincial Policy Statement (2020), planning officials are required to prepare for climate change impacts on natural hazards. These climate risks are incorporated into MVCA’s 2023 Shoreline Hazard Mapping Update by modelling changes in wave energy resulting from changes to lake level and ice conditions under 1.5°C rise in global mean temperature (GMT). This mapping is the first step towards understanding risk on the shoreline and planning towards a more climate resilient future.
Below are the details and themes of these upcoming workshops:
Workshop #1 – Understanding Values
- Session 1: Sunday, July 16, 2023, from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. noon
- Session 2: Sunday, July 16, 2023, from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Workshop #2 – Alternative Futures
- Session 1: Tuesday, August 15, 2023, from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
- Session 2: Tuesday, August 15, 2023, from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Workshop Location:
Knights of Columbus Hall
390 Parsons Court
Goderich, Ontario
If you’re interested in attending one or both of these workshops, please register here:
Or scan the Quick Response (QR) code:
For more information, please contact:
Or visit Maitland Conservation's website:
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