Level 1 Low Water Advisory Now In Place For Entire Ausable Bayfield Watershed

by Bob Montgomery

The Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority Water Response Team has updated a Level 1 Low Water Advisory to include the entire Ausable Bayfield watershed.

The team had declared a Level 1 Low Water Advisory for the Bayfield River watershed in October. They extended the advisory to a larger area, on November 8. Nearly three successive months of dry weather has resulted in decreased groundwater levels in shallow aquifers, significant reduction of base flows in watercourses, and, in some cases, complete loss of base flows. This prompted the Team to expand the advisory to the whole watershed.

The Water Response Team depends on Ontario Low Water Response indicators to make its decisions. Rainfall and streamflow have fallen below the indicators, with rainfall at an average of only 50 percent of normal in each of the last few months. The indicator for a Level 1 is 80 percent of normal for the indicator period. This can be a combination of one-month and three-month totals. As of early November, stream flows are only at 10-20 percent of normal.

“This three-month stretch of dry weather is having an impact watershed-wide, to the point where many smaller creeks and streams have stopped flowing completely,” said Christie Brown, ABCA Water Resources Technician. To see an improvement, she said, the team has to look at water supply over the long term. “To get us back to seasonal normal, it’s going to require wetter than normal conditions in the weeks or months ahead,” she said.

Water Response Team Chair Marissa Vaughan said everyone has a role to play in water conservation and it begins with awareness. “During a Level 1 Low Water Advisory condition, we encourage all water users to proactively conserve water by voluntarily reducing their water use by 10 percent”.

For ways to reduce your water use, visit the water quantity and water conservation page at abca.ca at this link: https://www.abca.ca/conservationstrategy/water/quantity/.

Visit www.ontario.ca/lowwater for more on Ontario Low Water Response or the website at abca.ca for the low-water advisory tool which alerts people to low-water advisories in effect in the watershed.