Watershed Action Plan
The City of Hamilton (City) has developed a City of Hamilton Watershed Action Plan (Plan) to improve water quality and water quantity within the City’s watersheds and Hamilton Harbour. The goal of the Plan is to improve the health of our watershed, address community concerns, and continue to progress on the City’s environmental stewardship. This work will ultimately help to delist the Hamilton Harbour as an Area of Concern(External link).
For many years, investments have been made into reducing point-source pollution in Hamilton Harbour. Point-source pollution comes from a single place such as a wastewater treatment plant or factory and is easy to identify. The City of Hamilton Watershed Action Plan will help to identify and guide work to address non-point source pollution. Non-point-source pollution comes from many places and is harder to identify such as runoff after a period of rain. Actions within the Plan will focus on activities that are within the care and control of the City.
The City covers a large geographical area and contains many watersheds. These watersheds are shared between several municipalities and fall under the management of Conservation Halton, the Hamilton Conservation Authority, the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, and the Grand River Conservation Authority.
A watershed is an area of land that drains rainfall and snowmelt into streams and rivers which then flows into a larger body of water such as a lake, bay, or harbour. The City will continue to work together with the Conservation Authorities to support watershed improvements beyond the City of Hamilton Watershed Action Plan.
Recommendation Report
A Recommendation Report was presented and approved by City Council in November 2024(External link). The recommendations were to support the City of Hamilton Watershed Action Plan(External link) as the guiding document for actions under the care and control of the City to improve the health of Hamilton Harbour and surrounding tributaries, and foster sustainable watershed management practices. Also, that the Engagement Summary Report(External link) be received. And finally, that the Implementation Strategy for the First Phase of Pending Actions(External link) be financed from future rate budget requests.
Virtual Public Meetings
We hosted virtual public meetings on May 2 and August 20, 2024 where we introduced the Watershed Action Plan, provided progress updates, outlined the timeline for implementation and held a question and answer session. In the latest meeting, the project team shared the draft priority actions and how public feedback helped to inform the draft Plan. If you missed the public meetings please watch the recorded sessions below.
- Watch the Virtual public meeting held May 2, 2024(External link)
- Watch the Virtual public meeting held Aug 20, 2024(External link)
Watershed Action Plan Questions & Answers
Review the public submitted questions on the draft Watershed Action Plan