Clean Up Rural Beaches (CURB) plan - Rideau River

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Davidson, Terry K.

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Queen's Printer for Ontario

Abstract

The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority's Clean Up Rural Beaches (CURB) Report is the product of the RVCA's participation in the Rural Beaches Program which is part of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment Provincial Beaches Management Strategy. A water quality monitoring program operated in 1990 and 1991 revealed agriculture as a major contributor of bacteria and nutrients within the Rideau River watershed. The sampling program concluded that the Rideau from Kilmarnock to Ottawa, in the centre channel only, had fecal coliform bacteria concentrations below the MOE guideline of 100 fecal coliforms per 100 millilitres. However, the majority of tributaries within the study area had fecal coliform concentrations above the MOE guidelines of 100 organisms per 100 ml, which accounts for numerous tributary mixing zones which can have fecal coliform concentrations exceeding the MOE guidelines. The purpose of the CURB Report is to provide a strategy addressing bacterial contamination of surface waters from agricultural operations. Therefore, to improve water quality, the CURB plan recommends remedial action which address the following: manure storage facilities, manure spreading and handling practices, milkhouse washwater disposal, livestock access to watercourses, and private septic system. Based on detailed surveys of representative agricultural operations in the Rideau Valley, the total estimated cost of some 930 potential remedial measures addressing agricultural pollution is $13,430,000. Based on the eligibility criteria and grant rates of the CURB Implementation Program as announced in September, 1991, these 930 plus projects would be eligible for $7,739,000 in assistance. There are an estimated 100 faulty private septic systems which could account for a potential request of $200,000 in grant assistance. The CURB Implementation Program will be delivered by the RVCA under the direction of a multi-agency steering committee. The program will offer financial, technical and educational assistance to the rural community.

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Archive of Agri-Environmental Programs in Ontario, Rural Beaches Strategy Program, RBS, Clean Up Rural Beaches Program, CURB, watershed, rural beaches, water quality, pollution, bacteria, nutrients

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