<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"><head><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml><o:OfficeDocumentSettings><o:AllowPNG/><o:PixelsPerInch>96</o:PixelsPerInch></o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--></head><body><div>Hi folks</div><div><br></div><div>Diane Saxe, the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario has just released their annual report yesterday. </div><div><br></div><div>In a nutshell: </div><div><br></div><div>It speaks of sewage overflows in Ontario. Of 1,327 events, 766 of them originated from 57 outdated systems that <span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">combine sewage with storm runoff resulting in discharge of raw sewage into Ontario waterways. </span></span></div><div><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></span></span></div><div><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">It speaks of the shortfalls of the Source Water protection and how it fails to have regard for sewage runoff, agriculture activities and farm runoff, industrial runoff, road salts. The laws for industrial toxins is 25 years old and in need of update. We lack policy to address many of these risks. Right now the funding for the existing Source Water protection program is uncertain with this current government. </span></span></div><div><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></span></span></div><div><span>It speaks of the decline of Wetlands in Ontario. We've already lost 72% of them up to 2002 and we lost an additional 0.6% from 2000-2010 and current laws are failing to protect because the government has not assessed many of them. At this rate it would take 260 years to assess wetlands for Provincially Significant Wetland status in Southern Ontario alone yet we know of all wetlands assessed on average 61% are declared PSW's. The Environmental Commissioner stated all wetlands in Ontario should have PSW status until proven otherwise. It is highly complex to replace the function of a wetland. You can't just replace small wetlands with a larger wetland complex. Offsetting should be viewed as a small component of a much broader plan to protect remaining wetlands not the solution to halt the net loss of wetlands. </span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div>The Environmental Commissioner created mapping of forest covers in watershed in Southern Ontario and the totality of the Grand River Watershed was EXCLUDED because there is <b style="">no data available</b><i>.</i></div><div><span><br></span></div><div>So in light of the Environmental Commissioner's report I would say strongly that<b> no function for land use of any kind should be determined for Hidden Valley due to the absence of Provincial data.</b></div><div><br></div><div>To view the Environmental Commissioner's latest report is broken up to several online booklets. You can view them by visiting here: <a href="https://eco.on.ca/reports/2018-back-to-basics/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" class="enhancr_card_2274066506">2018 Back to Basics | Environmental Commissioner of Ontario</a></div><div><br></div><div>The forestry mapping that lacks data on the Grand River Watershed's tree coverage is on page 52 Back to Basics Southern Ontario's Wetlands and Forests. (the light green book among the reports issued.) </div><div><br></div><div id="ydpe5cde6ddenhancr_card_2274066506" class="ydpe5cde6ddyahoo-link-enhancr-card ydpe5cde6ddymail-preserve-class ydpe5cde6ddymail-preserve-style" style="max-width:400px;font-family:Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" data-url="https://eco.on.ca/reports/2018-back-to-basics/" data-type="YENHANCER" data-size="MEDIUM" contenteditable="false"><a href="https://eco.on.ca/reports/2018-back-to-basics/" style="text-decoration:none !important;color:#000 !important" class="ydpe5cde6ddyahoo-enhancr-cardlink" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><table border="0" class="ydpe5cde6ddcard-wrapper ydpe5cde6ddyahoo-ignore-table" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="max-width:400px"><tbody><tr><td width="400"><table border="0" class="ydpe5cde6ddcard ydpe5cde6ddyahoo-ignore-table" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="max-width:400px;border-width:1px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgb(224, 228, 233);border-radius:2px"><tbody><tr><td class="ydpe5cde6ddcard-primary-image-cell" background="https://s.yimg.com/lo/api/res/1.2/sC5n0PvVl7z.R5DyGQacJw--~A/Zmk9ZmlsbDt3PTQwMDtoPTIwMDthcHBpZD1pZXh0cmFjdA--/https://media.assets.eco.on.ca/web/2018/11/2018-EPR-4-covers-EN.jpg.cf.jpg" bgcolor="#000000" valign="top" height="175" style="background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); 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min-height: 175px;"><tbody><tr><td class="ydpe5cde6ddcard-richInfo2" style="text-align:left;padding:15px 0 0 15px;vertical-align:top"></td><td class="ydpe5cde6ddcard-actions" style="text-align:right;padding:15px 15px 0 0;vertical-align:top"><div class="ydpe5cde6ddcard-share-container"></div></td></tr></tbody></table><!--[if gte mso 9]></v:textbox></v:rect><![endif]--></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td><table border="0" align="center" class="ydpe5cde6ddcard-info ydpe5cde6ddyahoo-ignore-table" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:#fff;position:relative;z-index:2;width:100%;max-width:400px;border-radius:0 0 2px 2px;border-top:1px solid rgb(224, 228, 233)"><tbody><tr><td style="background-color:#ffffff;padding:16px 0 16px 12px;vertical-align:top;border-radius:0 0 0 2px"></td><td style="vertical-align:middle;padding:12px 24px 16px 12px;width:99%;font-family:Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;border-radius:0 0 2px 0"><h2 class="ydpe5cde6ddcard-title" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px 0px 6px; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(38, 40, 42);">2018 Back to Basics | Environmental Commissioner of Ontario</h2><p class="ydpe5cde6ddcard-richinfo-primary" style="font-size:12px;line-height:16px;margin:0 0 4px 0;color:#979ba7">Environmental Commissioner of Ontario</p><p class="ydpe5cde6ddcard-description" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; color: rgb(151, 155, 167);">The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario (ECO) is an independent officer of the Legislature who reports on gove...</p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>I will be attending the Hidden Valley meeting this evening<font face="pg-1ffd" style="font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </font><span style="font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;">at the </span><span class="ydpe39dc2dfpg-1ff3" style="font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 0.96; visibility: visible; position: relative; unicode-bidi: bidi-override;">Kitchene<span class="ydpe39dc2df_ ydpe39dc2dfpg-1_0" style="display: inline-block; color: transparent; z-index: -1; position: relative; unicode-bidi: bidi-override;"></span>r Operat<span class="ydpe39dc2df_ ydpe39dc2dfpg-1_0" style="display: inline-block; color: transparent; z-index: -1; position: relative; unicode-bidi: bidi-override;"></span>ions Facili<span class="ydpe39dc2df_ ydpe39dc2dfpg-1_0" style="display: inline-block; color: transparent; z-index: -1; position: relative; unicode-bidi: bidi-override;"></span>ty. If</span><span style="font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;"> folks want to attend it will be at 131 Goo</span><span class="ydpe39dc2df_ ydpe39dc2dfpg-1_0" style="font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap; display: inline-block; color: transparent; z-index: -1; position: relative; unicode-bidi: bidi-override;"></span><span style="font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;">drich Dr., 6:30-8:30 with presentation at 7pm. Enter from the side. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;">Louisette Lanteigne</span></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div class="ydp5aaceb12yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:16px;"></div></body></html>