NOTL Watershed Study Report June 2008

NOTL Watershed Study Appendix A final
NOTL watershed study Appendix B final
NOTL Watershed Study Appendix C final
NOTL Watershed Study Appendix D final
NOTL Watershed Study Appendix E final
NOTL Watershed Study Appendix E part 2

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". Recent changes to 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 Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL) 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 vision.

The NOTL 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 the 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 NOTL Watershed Plan will generally follow the process described in Water Management on a Watershed Basis: Implementing an Ecosystem Approach, (MOEE, MNR 1993).

The NOTL watershed plan will include Local Management Area (LMA) 1.10 and a portion of 2.16 as identified in the NWQPS. The NOTL watershed contains all of NOTL except for the One Mile Creek watershed, which already has its own watershed plan. Several subwatersheds form the NOTL watershed including Eight Mile Creek, Four Mile Creek, Four Mile Creek Pond, Six Mile Creek, Two Mile Creek, and Lake Ontario subwatersheds 2,3,4,5,6, 7 and 8 (Figure 1). Urban areas in the watershed include a small portion of the Town of NOTL (south western edge), Virgil, Queenston, St. David's, Glendale and a small section of Niagara Falls.

The NOTL watershed plan will also take into consideration the Lake Ontario Shoreline Management Plan (1994). The major goals of the shoreline management plan were 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 is located along the southern edge of the watershed. Slopes of varying steepness are found along the escarpment, but the remainder of the watershed is a flat plain the slopes gently to Lake Ontario. The watershed is characterized by good quality agricultural land for tender fruit and grape production.