[All] Fw: Lack of Fisheries enforcement for Clair Creek

Fri Oct 2 16:28:44 EDT 2009

FYI

--- On Fri, 10/2/09, Louisette Lanteigne <butterflybluelu at rogers.com> wrote:

From: Louisette Lanteigne <butterflybluelu at rogers.com>
Subject: Lack of Fisheries enforcement for Clair Creek
To: Henri.Ragetli at dfo-mpo.gc.ca, "Sharon (ENE)Bailey" <Sharon.Bailey at ontario.ca>, jim.vollmershausen at ec.gc.ca, dave.burden at dfo-mpo.gc.ca, "Gord Miller" <commissioner at eco.on.ca>, "Donna Hon.Cansfield" <dcansfield.mpp at liberal.ola.org>, Scarpaleggia.F at parl.gc.ca, Shea.G at parl.gc.ca, Blais.R at parl.gc.ca, Byrne.G at parl.gc.ca, Stoffer.P at parl.gc.ca
Cc: "Dean Fitzgerald" <deanfishy at hotmail.com>, frind at uwaterloo.ca, "Andrew Wray" <awray at wrayjames.com>, "Stan Denhoed" <sdenhoed at hardenv.com>
Received: Friday, October 2, 2009, 4:26 PM

Dear Mr. Ragetli and Mr.Burden

Today I received a call from the Department of Fisheries stating there will be no investigation for potential fisheries violations in Clair Creek due to the fact an investigation is not supported by the "Habitat Branch". I was told the DFO's habitat branch bases their opinions on the information provided by the Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA). 

Please note, the GRCA failed to identify the risks to fish and fish habitat in Clair Creek prior to the approval of the West Side Lands and that is why I secured a professional ichthyologist and took this specific issue to the Ontario Municipal Board.  The OMB process secured the experts minutes where ALL experts agreed that the studies for Clair Creek were insufficient. Please see attached experts minutes for details.

Knowing the DFO's Habitat Branch has consulted recently with the GRCA regarding the current status of Clair Creek, the simple question I have is this. What reasonable evidence does the GRCA have to contribute to this matter when clearly the OMB has already identified the previous Clair Creek studies as insufficient? Why did the GRCA approve of this proposal in spite of the fact the studies were insufficient? This indicates to me the inability of the GRCA to adequately assess risk.

The OMB ruling was produced at the end of December 2008 and to date we still do not have a reasonable 12 month creek analysis to work with yet the GRCA and the City of Waterloo approved of the current land augmentations taking place regardless of the OMB ruling.

Professor Emeritus Emil Frind, one of Canada's top hydrology experts identified a loosing recharge in Clair Creek which infiltrates water into our deep aquifer system. The data regarding the window recharge was excluded from the EIS studies. He gave strong warnings all throughout the public process regarding the potential chloride impacts noting the fact that there is 0 margin of error to exceed MOE chloride limits should this proposal be built. It could very well result in municipal well closures. 

Professor Dean Fitzgerald, the ichthyologist secured for this OMB appeal did his masters thesis on Clair Creek. He and Cam Portt, the expert hired by the developers, agree that fish can easily access the upper reaches, particularly during spring thaw. There is no question that this is a known fish habitat. 

The reason I won my OMB appeal is because the GRCA failed to identify the risks to the creek during the planning process and in spite of the insufficient data, they approved of this proposal. In spite of the OMB ruling, they also approved the current land augmentations currently taking place on site. 

I went to the DFO specifically to secure an investigation on this matter because the fish in this creek have the legislative power to protect the loosing recharge and our and water supply. Now as it turns out the DFO is relying upon the unsubstantiated opinions of the GRCA and as a result the municipal water supply is at risk. This is inexcusable and I would like to make an appeal once more to call upon the DFO to do an actual site visit and assess the legality of the current land augmentations prior to taking this issue to the pubic.

Please respond to me in writing if this investigation will or will not take place within a reasonable time period along with a brief explanation regarding the decision.

In closing, I will share with you a video of the area as seen on Friday October 2nd 2009 as well as a photograph of the area as seen in the attachments showing how much water is currently being diverted. To see the You Tube video, visit here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBr_8y-ACIc

Thank you kindly for your time.

Louisette Lanteigne
700 Star Flower Ave.
Waterloo Ontario
N2V 2L2
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