Fighting to save Waring’s Creek

Group’s 32-year reclamation effort may be undone by development

At one time in the not too distant past, the water flow through Waring’s Creek was sufficient to power three mills on its route from Picton Bay to West Lake. The early settlers referred to it as Trout Creek for the plentiful fish that formed an important source of protein. In the 1930s, the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) established a trout rearing station to provide stock for area lakes and streams. The naturally cold water and abundant gravel beds provided the perfect habitat for brook trout. But changes during the 1950s left the once productive stream a shadow of its former self. The watercourse became silted and sluggish, and the population of brook trout vanished to all intents and purposes, although rainbow trout from Lake Ontario would sometimes make their way into the creek. In 1993, the Waring’s Creek Improvement Association (WCIA) was formed to restore the vitality of the stream and bring it back as a habitat for brook trout. They performed investigations into water quality and the variety of aquatic life in the stream and subsequently planted over 16,000 trees and used rafts of discarded Christmas trees to restore the banks and meander of the creek. This work helped to narrow and deepen the stream, exposing the gravel substrate and promoting upwelling of cold groundwater. Further changes, funded by a grant from the MNR, included replacements of culverts where farm access roads crossed the stream and the installation of fencing to keep cows out of the creek. The WCIA’s first major challenge came around 2001 when there was a proposal to create a 135-acre gravel pit below the water table in the creek’s watershed. The group took the proponent to the Ontario Municipal Board and ultimately prevailed in an expensive defence of the creek. The next assault came when a sewer line was proposed to be built across the watershed. The WCIA stepped up one more time and quashed the proposal.

This fight ended with an agreement from the municipality that the County will protect the Waring’s Creek watershed and fulfill a number of conditions before making any further changes. This agreement is known as the Minutes of Settlement, and it lies at the heart of the WCIA’s current battle to preserve Waring’s Creek.

Last Wednesday, the WCIA held a public meeting at the Waring House to celebrate 32 years of stewardship. Dr. Cliff Rice, one of the founders of the WCIA, welcomed a full house of people and provided a brief history of the group and its efforts to protect the creek. He then introduced Andy Margetson, who spoke about the Greencover Canada project in 2008 to restore the natural environment of the creek. Cheryl O’Brien, another founding member of the WCIA, then spoke about the current threats to the Waring’s Creek watershed. She noted that the West Meadows subdivision was built in 2021 with little to no regard of its impact on the watershed, despite the provisions in both the County’s Official Plan and the Secondary Plan. There are two development proposals on the watershed that are currently before Council. “This current development puts the WCIA in the same place as in 2008 [with the sewer extension]. We are ready for the County to help us move this forward so that, regardless of what goes on in that area, the watershed will be protected, the creek will be protected, the wells will be protected and the farm water sources will be protected,” she said. Dr. Rice said that the WCIA and the Prince Edward County Field Naturalists (PECFN) made multiple deputations to Council emphasizing the need to honour the Minutes of Settlement. This document, signed by Dr. Rice and then-mayor Leo Finnegan, obligated the County to complete a number of studies before any development could proceed. “The planning staff seemed to have lost sight of the Minutes of Settlement, and up to about eight weeks ago they denied ever having seen the document. It was never taken into consideration when the County was considering the approval. We believed, at the time, these applications should never have been received until the work that had been promised by the County had been done,” said Dr. Rice.

The next speaker was local farmer Dan Langridge, whose family has been farming the lands on the Waring’s Creek watershed for 27 years. He said the water table is quite close to the surface and the land should really be considered as covering an underground lake. He added that all that groundwater makes the land a great spot for farming, although there have been times where parts of the fields have been too wet to collect the harvest. His major concern with the proposed development is the reduction of permeability due to hardcover surfaces, with water runoff being collected in stormwater ponds instead of naturally being absorbed by the soil. He said that under heavy rain conditions, it is likely that the ponds will overflow and potentially contaminated water could flow into the watershed. He noted that in the past two years, there have been nine rainfall events that would have overwhelmed the proposed stormwater management system. Another of his concerns is with the topography of the land. Currently the land is undulating, with high and low areas. The developer proposes to level the land and Mr. Langridge worries about how that change will affect groundwater flows and what impact it will have on the 109 wells that are nearby. Les Stanfield spoke about the geologic foundations of the Waring’s Creek watershed. The porous soil and the fractured limestone bedrock yields a very complex water flow regime. He fears that any development will irrevocably alter the stream. “We might destroy Waring’s Creek just in the construction phase,” he said. “The main issue is that 32 years of restoration work on Waring’s Creek will be reversed in less than a year. The stream that now has gravel beds exposed—potential spawning areas for brook trout—will no longer be there. We will not recognize the stream in three to five years.” He would like to see more cumulative effects studies done to determine whether the area is suitable for development and, if so, how much development. “I want to see improved ecological integrity, not gradual declines. Council must ensure that the Official Plan is followed. A cumulative hydrogeological survey is required before going ahead.”

The presentation ended with Dr. Rice outlining the challenges faced by the WCIA and the next steps for the group. The WCIA and the municipality will undertake a comprehensive hydrogeological study of the Waring’s Creek watershed, at an estimated cost of between $25,000 and $50,000. The group is urging planning staff to recommend deferral of the two development proposals until the studies have been completed. “We believe these obligations of the County, made to us in a legal agreement, have not been satisfied, and the spirit of the agreement has been lost in the development of these proposals,” he said. Dr. Rice added that the effort to restore the habitat of Waring’s Creek is not for people to be able to fish for brook trout. “The trout are a ‘canary in the mine’. Trout in the creek is an indicator that the ecosystem is healthy.” For more information about the WCIA or to make a donation, please visit waringscreek.ca