What can I do?

February 2020 –   Under our original mandate for headwater health, there was little we could ask people who did not own lands in headwater areas to do, other than to enjoy a headwater hike or become a policy wonk pressing for improved policies and programs. Now, with our extended mandate for full watershed management, natural heritage, and receiving waters, we have a broader perspective about what individuals can do.

This initial list is offered under WaterScape III and will be expanded over the course of the year:

• Conserve water, indoors and out.

• Identify the watershed in which you live and its general conditions, such as its percentage in natural, agricultural, or urban use and its water quality, temperature, and the health of fish.

• Know where you drinking water comes from and what is being done to keep its natural sources clean.

• If you have lake or steam-side property, is the five metres closest to the water in natural cover?

• Know where your lot and street run-off goes. Can your lot retain run-off with a rain barrel or water garden? Is street run-off causing erosion and if so can it be reduced?

• Don’t pour anything into the stormwater system. Are chemicals or winter salting practices harming aquatic life when it runs into the local creek or lake?

• Find the closest areas to you with surface water. Take a walk in these areas to familiarize yourself with conditions. Is the water clear or does it smell? Are there five meters of streamside plants, exposed and eroding banks, or have the banks been hardened? Is the area safe so it can be enjoyed?

• Do you know where your sanitary sewage goes? Does its effluent meet discharge standards? Does it overflow in some conditions, closing beeches? Don’t put pharmaceuticals or chemicals down the toilet.

• Join or donate to a provincial and/or a local organization such as the Ontario Headwaters Institute.