15-16-18 Creeks Watershed Plan (PDF)


The Niagara Water Quality Protection Strategy ( NWQPS ) (2003) has identified the need to manage Niagara's watersheds in such a manner as to "sustain healthy rural and urban communities in harmony with a natural environment, rich in species diversity". The Provincial Policy Statement ( PPS ), issued under the Planning Act , now includes policies whereby Planning Authorities shall protect, improve or restore the quality and quantity of water by using the watershed as an ecologically meaningful scale for land use planning. The Fifteen, Sixteen and Eighteen Mile Creeks Watershed Plan will make recommendations to Planning Authorities on the best way to protect, improve and restore water quality and quantity in the land use planning process as well as recommend a restoration program and associated strategies to achieve the NWQPS (2003) vision.

The Fifteen, Sixteen and Eighteen Mile Creeks Watershed Plan will provide strategies that will allow the community to care for water resources, natural heritage, settlement and agriculture in the context of land use planning documents (e.g., Official Plans). It will also provide strategies for implementing watershed initiatives and specify who is responsible for remedial actions outside of the land use planning process (e.g., restoration opportunities on public and private lands). The Fifteen, Sixteen and Eighteen Mile Creeks Watershed Plan will generally follow the process described in Water Management on a Watershed Basis: Implementing an Ecosystem Approach , (MOEE, MNR 1993).

The Fifteen, Sixteen and Eighteen Mile Creeks watershed includes all of Local Management Area 1.5 as identified in the NWQPS (2003), including a portion of the Town of Lincoln, Township of West Lincoln, Town of Pelham and a very small area of the City of St. Catharines. Several subwatersheds form LMA 1.5 including Fifteen Mile Creek, Sixteen Mile Creek, Eighteen Mile Creek as well as Lake Ontario 27, 28 and 29 (Figure 1). Surface water flows through a 291 km watercourse network with several outfalls to Lake Ontario. The major concentration of urban land uses (residential, commercial, industrial) is within the Lake Ontario 27 subwatershed with a small concentration of urban use in Fenwick and the Town of Pelham.

Most of the watershed is within the provincially designated Greenbelt area, the exception being the headwaters of Sixteen Mile Creek and a small section of Fifteen Mile Creek. The Greenbelt Plan identifies where urbanization should not occur to provide permanent protection to the agricultural land base and the ecological features and functions that occur in rural/agricultural areas. Thus, the Greenbelt Plan aims to protect, maintain and enhance natural heritage, hydrologic and landform features and functions; protect and restore ecological linkages along the Niagara Escarpment as well as links to other natural heritage areas; protect, improve and restore the quality and quantity of ground and surface water and the hydrological integrity of watersheds; and provide for the long-term guidance for the management of natural heritage and water resources when planning for development, infrastructure, open space planning and management, and other programs.

Figure 1: Location of the Fifteen, Sixteen and Eighteen Mile Creeks Watershed

The Fifteen, Sixteen and Eighteen Mile Creeks Watershed Plan will also take into consideration the Lake Ontario Shoreline Management Plan (1994). The major goals for the shoreline management plan are to minimize danger to life and property damage from flooding, erosion and associated hazards along the shoreline, and to ensure that shoreline development adequately addressed these hazards.

The Niagara Escapement cuts through the watershed. Slopes of varying steepness are found along the escarpment, but the remainder of the watershed is a flat plain that slopes gently to Lake Ontario. The watershed is characterized by speciality crop areas, above and below the Niagara Escarpment, as defined in the Greenbelt Plan . Speciality crop areas include tender fruit (peaches, cherries, plums), grapes, other fruit crops, greenhouse crops, vegetable crops, and crops from agriculturally developed organic soil lands. Aquatic habitat is also considered good in the watershed. For example, most of the main branches of Fifteen Mile Creek and Sixteen Mile Creek and many of their tributaries are critical fish habitat, and Eighteen Mile Creek has been classified as important fish habitat. The embayments near the mouths of the creeks entering into Lake Ontario are also considered critical fish habitat. The Fifteen Mile Creek Drain system and Keenan Drain are the only municipal drains in the watershed. Keenan Drain has been classed as a Type C drain, which is a warm water system containing baitfish, and the Fifteen Mile Creek Drain system is currently classed as important fish habitat.

Agricultural water use is high for irrigation, greenhouse production and livestock in this watershed. Therefore, ensuring a reliable and adequate supply of water is an issue. Recommendations from the Feasibility Study - Raw Water for Agricultural Irrigation Purposes (Prepared for the Regional Municipality of Niagara 2005) will be consulted for this watershed.

Recreational uses in the watershed include Charles Daly Park along the shores of Lake Ontario, Sixteen Mile Pond, the Links of Rockway Glen, Peninsula Lakes and Sawmill golf courses, and the N.E.T. campground.

Scope of the Study

The intent of this project is to produce a watershed plan, developed in consultation with appropriate government agencies, landowners and interest groups that assists with the management of water, land/water interactions, aquatic life and aquatic resources to protect and improve the health of the watershed ecosystem. The Fifteen, Sixteen and Eighteen Mile Creeks Watershed Plan will provide a systematic strategy to guide development, identify and recommend alternative and preferred restoration programs, and strengthen stewardship and partnerships in the watershed. Once complete, the Fifteen, Sixteen and Eighteen Mile Creeks Watershed Plan will characterize the watershed; identify and prioritize key issues in the watershed and recommend strategies based on the key issues.

Watershed Inventory and Actions

NPCA staff will review all available information pertaining to the Fifteen, Sixteen and Eighteen Mile Creeks watershed and undertake field surveys as necessary to produce a complete characterization and inventory of the watershed and watercourse conditions (including natural channels and municipal drains). The study components will include but not be limited to the following:

•  Floodplain Mapping: This component of the study will undertake the necessary hydrologic and hydraulic analysis in order to generate 100 year return period floodlines for Fifteen Mile Creek and Sixteen Mile Creek. Floodplain mapping for Eighteen Mile Creek has already been completed.

•  Stream Morphology : This component of the watershed study will confirm reach boundaries and channel sensitivities through a historic assessment and rapid geomorphic assessment.

•  Fish and Aquatic Habitat: This component of the study will assess existing fish communities and fish habitat conditions in the watershed. In addition, factors that limit the distribution (e.g., fish barriers) and abundance of healthy fish communities will be identified.

•  Natural Heritage: This component of the watershed study will include the identification of existing wetlands, woodlands, wildlife travel corridors and wildlife habitat areas as well as the relationship between wildlife and natural areas.

•  Lake Ontario Shoreline : The watershed plan will update the components of the Lake Ontario Management Plan that are outdated to bring them up to the current standards for Natural Hazards and Natural Heritage under the PPS.

•  Water Quantity: The watershed plan will use any findings from the raw water supply feasibility study (Regional Niagara) in assessing issues pertaining to water quantity in the watershed.

•  Water Quality: This component of the watershed study will assess the existing water quality of the creeks and tributaries within the Fifteen, Sixteen and Eighteen Mile Creeks Watershed.

•  Rural Point and Non-Point Source Pollution: T his component of the watershed plan will include the dissemination of a landowner survey to rural landowners to identify any rural non-point source problem areas and identify rural BMPs.