CARP RIVER COALITION
18 February 2008
The solution to Kanata West requires that developers and the City “think outside the development” and start considering the Carp River in its entirety. According to a decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Carp River has the status of a Municipal Drain, from its upper reaches near Hazeldean Road to where it runs past the Village of Carp. The significance of this is that any runoff from the Kanata West developments must be discharged in such a way that it does no damage to land and roads as it makes its way to its “sufficient outlet”. That point is past the Village of Carp. We believe that it will be necessary to remediate a longer stretch of the Carp River than has been envisioned by the Kanata West landowners.
There is little doubt that the development of Kanata West will put increased strain on the Carp River. Farmers’ fields which previously absorbed and held water will be replaced with roads and buildings and other hardened surfaces, leaving the area with a reduced capacity to deal with storm water and the spring thaw. Runoff from these hardened surfaces will inevitably be mixed with a variety of contaminants, such as road salt, herbicides and motor oil.
The Carp River restoration plan that was proposed by the city and developers only considers the urban section of the river, ignoring the remaining rural areas the river runs through that are downstream of Kanata West. The Carp River Coalition has repeatedly warned that remediating the Carp River only down to Richardson Sideroad is inadequate and could have serious consequences. It is abundantly clear to us that the river will actually have to be dredged, reconfigured and naturalized down to a point below the Village of Carp in order to sufficiently drain the developed areas in Kanata West. This will also reduce the risk of further destruction of agricultural land outside the urban boundary and avoid the undoing of volunteer conservation efforts around the Village of Carp.
That is an expensive proposition, we realize, but then so is paying for damages related to the flooding of hundreds, possibly thousands, of homes and businesses, which may be the alternative. The time has come for a comprehensive solution.
For further information contact Carol Gudz at (613) 274-0991.
For Background and Updates, including the Coalition’s 2006 Part II Order Request under the Ontario Environmental Assessment Act, please visit http://www.greenspace-alliance.ca/carp
The Carp River Coalition is comprised of members of the Greenspace Alliance of Canada’s Capital, Ottawa Riverkeeper, Friends of the Carp River, and the Ottawa Group of the Sierra Club of Canada.