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Lake Simcoe Watershed CharacteristicsThe Lake Simcoe watershed is a secondary watershed within the Southern Georgian Bay Drainage area. Lake Simcoe drains into Lake Couchiching. Several streams enter Lake Simcoe from the south including the Talbot River, which forms part of the Trent-Severn waterway. The large geography covered by the SWP watershed region is quite diverse in terms of population density, economy, and land use. Human characteristics across the watershed vary from the densely populated urban centers of York Region in the south, to the prominent agricultural communities in the west, to the blend of rural residential and crown land settings in the northern areas where population dramatically increases for the summer months as a result of a vibrant tourism industry. These differences represent a significant challenge for the development of a source water protection plan because of the associated variability of available information upon which to base the technical work, the differing stresses on water resources related to development pressure and population growth, and the differences in the nature, density and locations of threats to the quality and quantity of water resources. The Lake Simcoe Environmental Strategy (LSEMS) “State of the Lake Simcoe Watershed report” (2003), states the Lake Simcoe watershed itself has a total land and water surface area of 3,576 km2, of which the lake itself occupies about 20 percent. The land portion of the watershed is approximately 2,857 km2 and is drained by 35 tributary rivers, with five major tributaries accounting for more than 60 percent of the total drainage area. The Lake Simcoe watershed can be divided into 18 subwatersheds or hydrological units, each drained by one or more tributaries of the lake. The subwatersheds range in size from a few hectares to hundreds of kilometres and can cross political boundaries. For example, the Hewitt’s Creek subwatershed is the smallest in the Lake Simcoe basin, with an estimated area of 18.2km2 , which contains portions of the City of Barrie and Township of Innisfil. The largest unit is the Black River subwatershed. At 377.6 km2 it accommodates two regional municipalities and four local municipalities. The division of the watershed into these smaller units allows more detailed analysis and research, including modelling the influence of land use on water quality and quantity.
Physiography
In the Lake Simcoe Watershed, groundwater is used for municipal water supply, agricultural use, industrial use, golf course irrigation and private water supplies. Groundwater is the primary source of potable water. With the exception of Sutton, Keswick, Alcona, Lagoon City and Beaver, which use surface water from Lake Simcoe; and Newmarket and Aurora, which rely on groundwater supplemented with surface water from Lake Ontario, all communities in the watershed depend on either private or municipal groundwater supplies (Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, 2003). York Region operates 9 municipal groundwater systems within the Lake Simcoe Watershed including: (1) Ansnorveldt, a Small Municipal System comprised of two wells; (2) Aurora, a Large Municipal Residential System, comprised of 6 wells; (3) Ballantrae/Musselman’s Lake, a Large Municipal Residential System, comprised of 2 wells; (4) Holland Landing, a Large Municipal Residential System comprised of 2 wells; (5) Mount Albert, a Large Municipal Residential System, comprised of 2 wells; (6) Newmarket, a Large Municipal Residential System comprised of 6 wells; (7) Schomberg, Large Municipal Residential comprised of two wells; and (8) Sharon/Queensville, a Large Municipal Residential comprised of four wells. In addition, there are 202 monitoring wells that are monitored for groundwater levels. There are 4 municipal groundwater system well fields in Bradford-West Gwillimbury comprised of seven wells including (1) Church well field, comprised of 2 wells;(2) Soda Pop well; (3) Bingham Street well; (4) Simcoe Street well; (5) Doane well; and (6) 8th Line well. The Region of Durham operates three municipal groundwater supply systems in the Lake Simcoe Watershed including: (1) Cannington, a Large Municipal Residential system comprised of 6 wells; (2) Sunderland, a Large Municipal Residential system, comprised of 2 wells; and (3) Uxbridge, a Large Municipal Residential system, comprised of 2 wells. The Township of Ramara operates two municipal water supply systems within the Lake Simcoe watershed including: (1) Bayshore Village, a Large Municipal Residential system comprised of 3 wells; and (2) Val Harbour, a Small Municipal Residential system comprised of 2 wells. The City of Barrie operates a water supply treatment system comprised of 13 wells that are constructed in deep overburden aquifers. The City of Orillia operates two groundwater municipal wells; however, these wells are currently offline due to TCE contamination. The city is currently using surface water as its municipal water source. The Town of Innisfil operates 6 municipal water supply systems within the Lake Simcoe watershed including: (1) Churchill, a Large Municipal Residential system comprised of 3 wells; (2) Crossroads, a Large Municipal Residential system comprised of 7 wells; (3) Goldcrest, a Small Municipal Residential system comprised of 2 wells; (4) Golf Haven, a Large Municipal Residential system comprised of 1 well; (5) Innisfil Heights, a Large Municipal Residential system comprised of 2 wells; and (6) Stroud, a Large Municipal Residential system comprised of 3 wells. The municipality of Oro-Medonte operates 6 municipal water supply systems within the Lake Simcoe Watershed including: (1) Maplewood, a Small Municipal System comprised of one well; (2) Cedarbrook, a Small Municipal System comprised of two wells; (3) Canterbury Estates, a Small Municipal Residential system comprised of two wells; (4) Harbourwood, a Large Municipal Residential comprised of two wells; (5) Shanty Bay, a Large Municipal System, comprised of 3 wells; and (6) the Airport supply system, comprised of 2 supply wells. Political Boundaries
Source: The Lake Simcoe Characterization Report Read more about the watersheds: |
