{"id":145174,"date":"2025-09-09T23:03:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T23:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/145174\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T23:03:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T23:03:15","slug":"eastern-ontario-watersheds-still-running-dry-as-fall-approaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/145174\/","title":{"rendered":"Eastern Ontario watersheds still running dry as fall approaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cooler weather and a bit of rain have arrived after an unusually hot and dry summer in eastern Ontario, but they’re not enough to reverse the effects of the severe drought plaguing\u00a0many of the region’s rivers.<\/p>\n

Five of eastern Ontario’s six conservation authorities have reported critically low water supplies in some areas.<\/p>\n

A Level 3 advisory\u00a0\u2014\u00a0the most severe low-water warning a conservation authority can issue\u00a0\u2014\u00a0has been declared in the Cataraqui, Rideau Valley, Carp, South Nation and Quinte watersheds, meaning the supply in those rivers is currently too low\u00a0to meet demand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s definitely something we haven’t seen in the past few years,” said Kathryn Starratt, a water resources specialist with the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority, the latest to declare a Level 3.<\/p>\n

\"PortraitWater resources specialist Kathryn Starratt stands near a bone-dry retention pond behind the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority’s building. (Aya Dufour\/CBC)<\/p>\n

“We are seeing these conditions persist into the fall, and we don’t have any major indicators of relief at this time.”<\/p>\n

The dry rivers will not impact the City of Ottawa’s central drinking water system, but they may have consequences for residents and businesses who rely on private water systems including groundwater wells.<\/p>\n

The Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority is asking those who rely on wells to reduce their water consumption by 50 per cent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘We don’t have the choice’<\/p>\n

That’s a tall order for businesses whose operations depend on water, like the Carp Garden Centre.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Owner Jonathan Merchand\u00a0said his business has done its best to minimize water usage, including investing in better irrigation systems.\u00a0He can’t even fathom what would happen if his well dried up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AOwner Jonathan Marshall says the Carp Garden Centre is already using as little water as possible, and he doesn’t see many other options for cutting down use. (Aya Dufour\/CBC)<\/p>\n

“We don’t have the choice not to water our plants, we have to keep them alive to make money,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Merchand said it would cost thousands of dollars to truck water in or drill a new well, and that would spell\u00a0financial disaster for his\u00a0business.<\/p>\n

The low water level advisory is also making the local golf course uneasy. Peter Sinclair, head of grounds at the Irish Hills Golf and Country Club, said\u00a0this has been the driest summer he’s ever experienced.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It requires a lot more work,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"APeter Sinclair, head of grounds at the Irish Hills Golf and Country Club near Carp, says without the natural springs that feed the course’s ponds it would have been impossible to keep the grass healthy throughout this sweltering summer. (Aya Dufour\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Without the golf course’s holding ponds and natural springs, Sinclair said he wouldn’t have been able to keep the grass alive this summer.<\/p>\n

“If we were to rely on our wells, we’d be in trouble,” he said.<\/p>\n

Sinclair said other golf courses have faced an impossible choice this summer\u00a0\u2014\u00a0especially those that draw on the Mississippi river, where the local conservation authority has\u00a0asked permit holders to reduce consumption.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Starratt said\u00a0she’s been fielding lots of emails from the public with concerns about water levels, but added there’s nothing the conservation authority can do about the drought.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“If I had it within my control to sprinkle rain where I wanted to, I would love to do that,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cooler weather and a bit of rain have arrived after an unusually hot and dry summer in eastern…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-145174","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}