Haliburton: a county made up of four municipalities, two billion cubic metres of water, and zero regional conservation authority.
Stepping in to fill this gap is a community-based research organization called U-Links. The small team of researchers, environmental studies students, and coordinators have been working with local volunteers—including lake associations—since 2022 to test the quality of Haliburton waterways.
“There’s an absence of other governmental bodies doing aquatic and terrestrial monitoring for the county,” says Frank Figuli, the program coordinator for U-Links. “It’s really up to individuals on the ground to collect these types of data.”
While Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry test the waterways every so often, the region was lacking in real-time information, says Figuli. U-Links takes on biomonitoring, forest health monitoring, and other environmental initiatives—including water quality testing—to keep an eye on the local environment.
Lake associations sign on to water testing program
This year, the water quality program is partnering with 25 lake associations across 38 lakes in the county. This is a 150 per cent increase in participation since the program’s launch.
Volunteers from the lake association and beyond join researchers to obtain water samples from more than 60 sites. They’re testing water temperature and nutrient levels, including nitrate, total phosphorus, ammonia, and sulfate.
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“The local volunteers have been our eyes,” says Andy Gordon, the director of U-Links. “It’s been a beneficial two-way relationship.”
Participating lake associations receive a yearly technical report from U-Links detailing what they found in the associated waterways. The data, which can also be found on publicly available databases, is compared against a reference lake in Haliburton that’s unaffected by human activity.
The data is also useful for local municipalities, to get a better understanding of their environment, says Gordon. (If a sample finds high levels of nitrate and phosphorus, for example, that could be indicative of future algal blooms.) In turn, the program works with the municipalities to find solutions to emerging environmental issues.
Regular water monitoring also ensures that drinking water quality is up to par. On Kennisis Lake, for example, about one third of cottagers and residents source their drinking water from the lake, says Jim Prince, the co-chair of U-Links. If contaminants or unusually high levels of nutrients are found, this information helps local officials determine how to treat the water to make it safe to drink.
“Our most valuable assets in Haliburton are our lakes and waterways,” says Prince. “It’s all of our responsibility to protect them.”
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