St. Clair River is getting cleaner ‘slowly but surely’
Good news about the improved health of the St. Clair River came in threes.
Federal and provincial environment ministries have approved changing the designation of three of the river’s beneficial use impairments (BUIs) to no longer impaired.
Recent decisions by Environment and Climate Change Canada, and the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks, removed beach closings, bird or animal deformities or reproductive problems, and restrictions on dredging from a long-standing list of beneficial use impairments on the Canadian side of the river. “It’s really good news,” said Kelly Johnson, coordinator of the St. Clair River remedial action plan. The St. Clair River was identified by the Canadian and U.S. Governments in 1987 as one of 43 areas of concern on the Great Lakes. Municipal and industrial pollution, along with habitat loss, contributed to the St. Clair River being one. A list of a dozen beneficial use impairments was assembled for the Canadian side of the river and work began on a remedial action plan to address them. Johnson said six beneficial use impairments remain in place for the river. “But we have made significant progress on a number,” she said. Johnson said restrictions on fish and wildlife consumption, the degradation of benthos (organisms living on the riverbed), restrictions on drinking water or taste and odour problems, loss of fish and wildlife habitat remain designated as impaired. Requiring further assessment before they can be re-designated are degraded fish and wildlife population, as well as fish tumours or other deformities.
“There has been a lot of work by a number of agencies, a number of individuals, aimed at re-designating each of the BUIs,” Johnson said.
“Slowly but surely, the list of impaired BUIs is getting shorter.” Kris Lee, Canadian chair of the St. Clair Binational Public Advisory Committee working on the issue,
said its members voted more than a year ago to recommend the three re-designations and submitted them for government approval. “It has been a long progress,” she said. “We’re happy.”
One of the remaining challenges is addressing mercury contaminated sediment in three areas between Sarnia and Stag Island, Lee said. The mercury is believed to have come from the former Dow Chemical plant in Sarnia.
“That’s the big one we’re hoping to get more funding for,” Lee said. In 2014, a recommendation was submitted to the federal and provincial governments to remove the sediment at an estimated cost of more than $28 million. Earlier this year, Ottawa announced funding of $250,000 for detailed engineering work. A similar effort to improve the river’s health is underway on the Michigan side, where the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency website says four of the original 10 beneficial use impairments remain.