Ground water expert warns against development in southwest Kitchener
Boundaries for building expanded with no regard for safety of drinking water supply, says hydrogeologist
A ground water expert who helped build new subdivisions for decades is calling out the City of Kitchener and the Province of Ontario for opening environmentally sensitive areas in southwest Kitchener to new development.
Bill Clarke, 74, worked for years to protect and conserve the underground aquifers that supply the drinking water for most of the people living in Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge.
The regional recharge areas on the moraine in southwest Kitchener were protected for more than 20 years by the Region of Waterloo's growth management strategy. But the region is losing its planning authority thanks to Bill 185, which underwent a clause-by-clause review Wednesday at Queen's Park.
Once that proposed legislation receives third and final reading it transfers planning authority from the Region of Waterloo down to local municipalities, which have, for the most part embraced the expansion of development boundaries.
Clarke shakes his head at what's coming in southwest Kitchener, an area south of Bleams Road and east of Trussler Road.
“Just thinking about doing any of this stuff is beyond my comprehension,” said Clarke.
For decades Clarke was a consulting hydrogeologist for developers building subdivisions around small towns like Maryhill and Erin. He also worked for gravel pits and quarries when the operators wanted to expand.
Clarke eventually had his own consulting firm, and now some of the work he did, particularly on the west side of Waterloo, an environmentally sensitive area that was opened to development in the mid-2000s.
Much of the area is paved over by car-dependent suburbs now.
“As soon as they get their permits and permissions and everything else, they pave over every square metre of space to maximize their profits,” said Clarke. “I am just so disillusioned by this unchecked growth and expansion.”
New lands for development will be opened near Hespeler, around Elmira, St. Jacobs, Breslau, New Hamburg/Baden and southwest Kitchener. The only two municipalities in Waterloo Region that did not support the province's move to expand development boundaries are the City of Waterloo and the Township of Wellesley.
About 80 per cent of the drinking water in this region is supplied by underground aquifers. If new development reduces the amount of rainwater and snow melt going into the aquifers new home construction could grind to a halt, warned the Region of Waterloo weeks ago because of a lack of water.
Some of the sewage treatment plants in the region are at or near their capacity limits.
“If we want to turn the Grand River back into a moving sewage pit like it was in the 1950s and 1960s, this is a great way to do it,” said Clarke.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has speculated aloud about an early election. If that happens before Bill 185 receives third and final reading, it will die on the order paper. But if it receives final reading before an election call, the region will lose its planning authority, and its ability to protect the underground aquifers from development.
“It is my worry that if we keep with this growth and expansion a whole bunch of people are going to smack their foreheads and go: 'Oh crap,'” said Clarke.
Bill Clarke stands in a field on Bleams Road in Kitchener.