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
Comment on Draft Watershed Action Plan
This feedback is closed. Please provide your feedback in the Provide Feedback or Ask a Question tab.
Who's Listening
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Email tim.crowley@hamilton.ca -
Custom
Engagement Level: Consult
Our Commitment: Staff will get your feedback on the project/initiative.
We promise to:
- Keep you informed.
- Listen to and acknowledge your concerns or hopes for the project.
- Provide feedback to you on how the input received was used to inform the project.
Videos
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Recording of Watershed Action Plan virtual public meeting held May 2, 2024.
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Recording of Watershed Action Plan virtual public meeting held Aug 20, 2024.
Section 3.2. The combined and separated sewer pictures are backwards.
Manage the birds on the beaches in Hamilton Harbour. They contribute to the some of the pollution closing the beaches.
Action plan Objective 2: The City spreads way too much salt during the winter.
Section 5.1 - Educate people to reduce the use of salt on sidewalks. Some residents use salt instead of a shovel to clear their sidewalks
Are there no CSO tanks on the mountain? If not, wouldn’t it be logical to collect and treat sewage and wastewater before it flows down to the overburdened infrastructure of the lower city.
It seems that with rampant development on the mountain and increasing climatic events, no effective solution will be realized without a considerable investment in new infrastructure throughout the entire city.
The labels on the "combined" and "separate" sewer system illustrations appear to be reversed. You might want to fix that.
Hello
I'm curious about the effectiveness of the cities CSO tanks. Due to the increased storms we're having, how often are the tanks actually releasing into the harbour ? The Blue Alage at BayFront and pier 4 seem to be getting worse every year. Is this due to more agricultural run off, or is it more CSO tanks dumping ?
This year seems to be the worst I've seen in years. Lots of dead birds and Fish. Native species like catfish , pike, Bass are being seen washed up, Carp aswell .
Huge challenges have been included in this exercise. Kudos! I am especially hopeful that the terrible state of Harbour water will help to protect upstream wetlands that provide habitat for so many species in addition to filtering our water.
Huge challenges have been included in this exercise. Kudos! I am especially hopeful that the terrible state of Harbour water will help to protect upstream wetlands that provide habitat for so many species in addition to filtering our water.
Huge challenges have been included in this exercise. Kudos! I am especially hopeful that the terrible state of Harbour water will help to protect upstream wetlands that provide habitat for so many species in addition to filtering our water.