Watershed Report Card

Lower Trent Conservation has released its first comprehensive report card on the ecosystem health of the Lower Trent watershed region. The report card identifies grades for three environmental indicators: surface water quality, groundwater quality and forest cover. A standardized grading system (grades A to F) set out by Conservation Ontario was used.
 
The watershed report card will be produced every five years. As more data is collected, Lower Trent Conservation will be able to start to identify trends as they relate to the three environmental indicators.

What is a Watershed?

A watershed is an area of land that drains into a river or stream. A drop of water that falls anywhere within the watershed region will eventually end up at the mouth of the Trent River, or will flow into the Bay of Quinte or Lake Ontario. The Lower Trent watershed encompasses 2121 square kilometres and stretches from Grafton to Quinte West, and from Rice Lake to Lake Ontario.  The Lower Trent watershed region is divided in to 12 subwatersheds.  Some form part of the Trent River drainage basin; the rest include streams flowing directly into Lake Ontario of the Bay of Quinte.

The Results

Two watershed areas received a grade of "B" or "C" for surface water quality with insufficient data available to grade the remaining ten areas. Seven groundwater monitoring wells received an "A" with three scoring much lower. Most of the region scored an "A" or "B" for forest conditions with two small watershed areas receiving a "C".
 
This first report card identifies the health of our watersheds today, and will provide a basis for comparison in the future.  Lower Trent Conservation will need to expand it's monitoring efforts so that there is enough data to produce grades across the entire watershed.

Watershed Health -- What it Means for You

There are over 71,000 residents within the Lower Trent watershed region, and day-to-day activities have a direct impact on many aspects of the natural environment. The report card provides residents, municipalities, industries and organizations with a few ideas on what they can do to improve the ecosystem health of the region. Planting trees, maintaining septic systems, eliminating use of lawn and garden fertilizers and pesticides, and conserving water are simple actions that can have an impact on the region’s ecosystem health.
 
To view an online copy of the Watershed Report Card click here (3 MB).  For a hard copy, please contact us.
 
Individual subwatershed reports have also been produced for the 12 watershed regions within Lower Trent Conservation. They provide a more detailed summary of each subwatershed including: breakdown of parameters analyzed for each environmental indicator; monitoring strategies; stewardship actions and local successes.

Which Subwatershed do you live in?

1. Squires Creek
2. Rawdon Creek
3. Trout Creek
4. Trent River Corridor Tributaries
5. Rice Lake Tributaries
6. Percy/Burnley Creek
7. Salt Creek
8. Cold Creek
9. Barnum House/Shelter Valley Creeks
10. Lake Iroquois Plain Tributaries
11. Mayhew Creek
12. Bay of Quinte Tributaries