Watershed Action Plan

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The City of Hamilton (City) is developing 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.

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.

Once the City of Hamilton Watershed Action Plan is complete, a recommendation report will be brought forward to City Council for approval. Implementation of the City of Hamilton Watershed Action Plan is expected in 2025.

Review the draft Plan

The City has created a draft version of the Watershed Action Plan based on municipal studies, partner reports, and extensive community outreach and engagement. We invite you to review the draft version of the City of Hamilton Watershed Action Plan and provide your comments or ask your questions by September 6, 2024.

Once the Plan is finalized, a recommendation report will be brought forward to City Council for approval this fall. Implementation of the Plan is expected in 2025.

Virtual Public Meeting

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.

Watershed Action Plan Questions & Answers

Review the public submitted questions on the draft Watershed Action Plan

The City of Hamilton (City) is developing 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.

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.

Once the City of Hamilton Watershed Action Plan is complete, a recommendation report will be brought forward to City Council for approval. Implementation of the City of Hamilton Watershed Action Plan is expected in 2025.

Review the draft Plan

The City has created a draft version of the Watershed Action Plan based on municipal studies, partner reports, and extensive community outreach and engagement. We invite you to review the draft version of the City of Hamilton Watershed Action Plan and provide your comments or ask your questions by September 6, 2024.

Once the Plan is finalized, a recommendation report will be brought forward to City Council for approval this fall. Implementation of the Plan is expected in 2025.

Virtual Public Meeting

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.

Watershed Action Plan Questions & Answers

Review the public submitted questions on the draft Watershed Action Plan

CLOSED: This discussion has concluded.

The City has created a draft version of the Plan based on municipal studies, partner reports, and extensive community outreach and engagement. We invite you to review the draft Watershed Action Plan, ask your questions by September 6, 2024.

Review the Draft Watershed Action Plan Report

Ask a question that isn't addressed on this page or in the Frequently Asked Questions.

  • Share Are there any plans to install permanent monitoring station(s) on some of the watercourses that drain into the harbour to get baseline data, and then track the effectiveness of the remedial measures, both for water quality and water quantity? on Facebook Share Are there any plans to install permanent monitoring station(s) on some of the watercourses that drain into the harbour to get baseline data, and then track the effectiveness of the remedial measures, both for water quality and water quantity? on Twitter Share Are there any plans to install permanent monitoring station(s) on some of the watercourses that drain into the harbour to get baseline data, and then track the effectiveness of the remedial measures, both for water quality and water quantity? on Linkedin Email Are there any plans to install permanent monitoring station(s) on some of the watercourses that drain into the harbour to get baseline data, and then track the effectiveness of the remedial measures, both for water quality and water quantity? link

    Are there any plans to install permanent monitoring station(s) on some of the watercourses that drain into the harbour to get baseline data, and then track the effectiveness of the remedial measures, both for water quality and water quantity?

    Ben O'Reilly asked 5 months ago

    We currently collect water quality data from the City’s watercourses on a monthly time period mainly through the City’s Surface Water Quality Program. In the near future, we are looking to enhance this program by adding more sites and/or a shorter sampling frequency (e.g., biweekly sampling). This will further support the collection of baseline data.

    Through the Watershed Action Plan, there are a couple actions that may be prioritized that recommend an even greater enhancement of the Surface Water Quality Program to better delineate the sources of phosphorus, sediment, and chloride throughout the City’s watercourses. To support this action, the City will review options, such as installing either temporary or permanent monitoring stations on some of the watercourses that drain into the harbour. The required power, maintenance and security needs will also have to be considered when deploying the monitoring stations. When complete, this will allow us to better track areas of concern and the effectiveness of some of the remedial measures that will be delivered through the Action Plan.

Page last updated: 12 Sep 2024, 05:18 PM