If the Grand River was a highway, we’d be getting action on better safety information
Greg Veres and his wife were paddleboarding on the Grand River, heading from Kitchener to Cambridge, when they saw a sign they didn’t understand. “Danger — Weir,” it said. Neither of them had any idea what a weir was, so they searched for the term on their cellphones, as they floated closer to it.
“We had no idea if it was something dangerous on the water, or over on the shore (like giant hogweed),” said Veres, who lives in Waterloo.
Once they realized a weir is similar to a low-head dam, causing the water to flow over a wall, they understood the danger ahead. Weirs can be death traps with their steep drops and churning water that can pull people under.
The couple got to the riverbank. They didn’t see any sign showing the portage pathway. They walked through weeds as tall as they were before finding an elevated trail.
With three deaths and two close calls in the Grand River already this summer, safety advocates are calling for better, more consistent public education, including warning signs that are easy to see.
Veres agrees. “Ninety per cent of the population don’t know what a weir is,” he said. “If the sign had used a more familiar term, like ‘dam,’ then we would instantly have known what we were dealing with.”
Veres would like to see maps of the river at access points, showing where the hazards are, and indicating where and how to get around them. That lets people plan their trip ahead of time.
As our awareness grows of the dangers of the river, safety advocates like Anne Woolner and Amy Haertel have come forward.
Four years ago, Woolner called for improved warning signs for that same weir, about a kilometre downstream from the Freeport Bridge. The existing signs are small, hard to see and often covered by overgrown foliage.
Meanwhile, Haertel has started a public Facebook group, River Access Point Safety Movement.
She is lobbying the Region of Waterloo and the Grand River Conservation Authority, both of which own structures at the river, for better safety information at ramps and other access points.
Haertel was inspired to do this after the wife of one of her friends died in the river in mid-July.
Annette Martz and Rachel Taylor set out July 13 in an inflatable pool float on a beautiful evening. But the river, swollen by recent rain, was moving fast. They called for help as they went over the weir at the Hidden Valley Low Lift station. They did not resurface and their bodies were found a few days later.
A week after that, in a separate incident, the body of a Cambridge resident was pulled from the Grand River near Glen Morris.
And last week, two kayakers had to be rescued from treacherous waters by Cambridge firefighters in the river near Preston.
It’s clear, with so many emergencies and so much loss of life, that the lack of safety information about the river nust be addressed.
Imagine if the Grand River was a provincial highway and we were seeing these problems. Action would be taken immediately.
But advocates are finding it is an uphill climb. No organization owns the river outright. The Grand River Conservation Authority owns some structures and the Region of Waterloo owns others. That means no organization takes overall responsibility for advising the public.
Ramps to get in and out of the river are owned by different groups, including local municipalities. There should be maps there, showing dangerous spots and portage access points, Haertel said, plus QR codes with links to flow readings and other safety information. But these features are absent.
“I just don’t understand why it’s not there,” Haertel said.
The conservation authority collects some information, but it’s not widely shared.
The authority also sidesteps the responsibility of offering safety advice, and tells people to contact canoe outfitters for information. This is a ludicrous idea. Outfitters are private businesses. They can be expected to ensure the safety of their customers. But how can they advise someone who isn’t a customer, if they don’t know what kind of equipment the person is using, or how experienced the person is? It’s simply not the responsibility of a private company to educate the public.
“We do not refer to car dealers to advise us on driving,” reasons Haertel in a letter to the authority.
I hope its board members agree, and do something, before someone else dies.