{"id":9862,"date":"2010-03-12T14:32:39","date_gmt":"2010-03-12T19:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=9862"},"modified":"2013-01-21T13:38:56","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T18:38:56","slug":"environmental-assessment-the-don-river-and-master-class-eas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/03\/12\/environmental-assessment-the-don-river-and-master-class-eas\/","title":{"rendered":"Environmental Assessment: The Don River and Master Class EAs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\n\"\"This post is part of a series of articles<\/a> exploring the Environmental Assessment process and how it\u2019s shaping Toronto. The series focuses on four major developments currently at the EA stage.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>Photos like this one seem like they were taken a lifetime ago. Hilarious bathing costumes aside, the idea of swimming in the Don River is about as foreign an experience as I can think of. I know the Don as a sidekick to the DVP and as a treasure trove of beer cans and shopping carts. Though I grew up close to it, I have never dipped a toe into it or taken a drink straight from the river.<\/p>\n

Can you blame me? From kindergarten on up, we were taught that the Don was dirty. And my teachers weren\u2019t wrong. The Don River does not meet Provincial water quality objectives and has the dubious distinction of making the International Joint Commission\u2019s list of 43 \u201careas of concern\u201d in the Great Lakes Basin. It is one of the city\u2019s most degraded ecosystems.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, you can blame me. Along with nearly half of Toronto\u2019s residents who make up the Don River sewershed, I\u2019ve had a hand in the Don\u2019s current condition. The sewers which combine and carry away stormwater and sanitary waste bound for the Ashbridges Bay treatment plant routinely overflow, loading up the Don with bacteria and nutrient pollution.<\/p>\n

As it stands, our wastewater infrastructure progressively degrades this ecosystem and the water we drink. We\u2019ve created a system which undermines itself and the value that we place on clean drinking water and a healthy environment.<\/p>\n

With the release of the City\u2019s Wet Weather Flow Master Plan<\/a> in 2003 and the subsequent Don River and Central Waterfront Project, the City of Toronto is trying to stem the tide, initiating the process of restoring e.colic to bucolic.<\/p>\n

The City proposes to address the need for additional sewer capacity to meet forecasted demands as the city grows while better managing the \u201cwet weather\u201d flows which wreak havoc on the Don. This requires changes at the source (lessening the load by disconnecting downspouts, planting trees, and promoting green roofs), during conveyance (allowing percolation of wastewater into soil for natural filtration where appropriate, separating sanitary from storm sewers, upgrading large trunk sewers) and at the end of the pipe (improving the quality of the water emerging from the Don\u2019s 51 combined sewer outflows).<\/p>\n

This project is subject to a Municipal Class EA.<\/p>\n

This class of projects includes municipal \u201cmaintenance and operational activities, reconstruction and modification of existing roads and traffic facilities, the construction of new roads, reconstruction and modification of existing sewage, stormwater management and water facilities, the construction of new sewage and water facilities and the construction of stormwater management and related erosion, flood and water quality control facilities.\u201d It will also be subject to a Federal Environmental Assessment on account of the potential implications of the project for navigable waters, fisheries and federal project funding.<\/p>\n

Like other EAs, the municipal process mandates public consultation, the consideration of alternatives, identification of the potential environmental impacts of the project and the recognition of the advantages and disadvantages of the candidate solutions. Following public consultation and planning stages in 2008-2009, the City will release a preferred design document and environmental study report for public viewing this year.<\/p>\n

City literature<\/a> suggests that this project will \u201cmake the largest contribution to water quality improvement and habitat creation in the Don River in our lifetime.\u201d This is a big step and one that future generations will thank us for (particularly if it allows them the chance to swim beneath the Prince Edward Viaduct).<\/p>\n

The Don River project is exactly the kind of development decisions that the EA should be promoting: finding opportunities within decaying infrastructure to lessen the burden on our natural systems and improve quality of life. It does this by starting from a place of genuine need, a problem rather than a new project. The result is net ecological benefits rather than mere mitigation of new environmental ills: a standard that other assessments should be held to.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Toronto Archives<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post is part of a series of articles exploring the Environmental Assessment process and how it\u2019s shaping Toronto. The series focuses on four major developments currently at the EA stage. Photos like this one seem like they were taken a lifetime ago. Hilarious bathing costumes aside, the idea of swimming in the Don RiverContinue reading “Environmental Assessment: The Don River and Master Class EAs”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4081,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21759],"tags":[3897,14584,2031,134,14586,11870,2925,5098,19,14585],"class_list":["post-9862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-ashbridges-bay","tag-candidate-solutions","tag-don-river","tag-environmental-assessment","tag-international-joint-commission","tag-natural-systems","tag-prince","tag-prince-edward-viaduct","tag-toronto","tag-wastewater-infrastructure"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEnvironmental Assessment: The Don River and Master Class EAs - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/03\/12\/environmental-assessment-the-don-river-and-master-class-eas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Environmental Assessment: The Don River and Master Class EAs - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This post is part of a series of articles exploring the Environmental Assessment process and how it\u2019s shaping Toronto. 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