Minutes of the Bonnechere System High Water Emergency Communications Meeting

Thursday, November 19, 2009, The Sands on Golden Lake

Present:

Kevin O’Connor (GLPOA), Gail McPhee (GLPOA), Janice Visneskie (KHR), Zig Mintha (BV), Harold Weckworth (NAW), Peter Boldt (RPG), Jeff Featherston (RPG), Mike Radford (MNR), Wendy Engel (RLPOA), Jan Leroux (Pik), Don Pouliot (RLPOA), John Gulland (GLPOA), Bill Goderre (RLPOA), Steve Fiegen (BV), Jeff Scharf (GLPOA)

Welcome and Introductions - Kevin O'Connor

Kevin O’Connor called the meeting to order at 1:35 pm by welcoming everyone. Attendees introduced themselves. Kevin reviewed the agenda and received approval to proceed with it as proposed. He then introduced Peter Boldt of RPG.

Review of recent amendments to the Bonnechere River Water Management Plan (BRWMP) - Peter Boldt

BRWMP was approved in September, 2004. Peter explained the challenge of meeting the criteria in the plan.

The first proposed amendment removes the trout spawning box at Round Lake and changes the timing of the level reduction in the Fall. The second amendment changes the timing of the level reduction on Golden Lake in the Fall (after Thanksgiving). This amendment was approved last winter.

Neither amendment changes the absolute lower level in the winter or forces RPG to change its current management practice. Peter explained that the amendments create the opportunity to alter the timing of level reductions with the objective being to create a greater reservoir to contain the spring freshet.

Don Pouliot suggested that if participants have questions of Peter at the end of the meeting, they could circulate them to the group and Peter can respond. Peter agreed to this plan.

Discussion of the experience of high water levels in the spring of 2008; review of communications procedures at that time and their effectiveness for each stakeholder - All

Kevin introduced this agenda item by recounting his experience in 2008 regarding information flows and actions taken. He gave some examples of situations in which communication within and between various stakeholders could have been better.

Jeff Featherston mentioned that it was obvious early in the new year of 2008 that there was a very large snow pack and that there could be problems. An ad was placed in both the Leader and This Week notifying the public of how to contact RPG if there was a problem. Jeff was up to Round Lake each day to monitor the situation and posted the information to the RPG web site.

Janice talked about the experience and why the state of emergency was called. MNR helped with getting sand and bags to assist the Township. She expressed concern that the province did not provide support during such emergencies, and reported that her township has been in contact with the province to correct this deficiency.

She noted that despite the damage to some properties, there were some good aspects to the response at the time.

Harold Weckworth talked about the 2008 situation from his township’s perspective. He and some ratepayers were concerned that if the Tramore dam had been opened at the peak of the flood, it could have created serious problems on Golden Lake because of the difficulty of releasing a large amount of water quickly at the Golden Lake dam.

Zig Mintha discussed the situation at the Eganville generating plant, stating that spring freshet tends to cause no problems there.

Wendy Engel talked about RLPOA’s limited ability to communicate with its members quickly when emergencies happen because about 70% of them are seasonal residents.

Mike Radford talked about the notices that MNR put out at the time. He stressed the importance for everyone with an interest to visit the RPG web site. He mentioned that KHR posted information on its web site. Mike pointed out that flooding was not unique to the Bonnechere system in 2008, there was widespread flooding across southern Ontario. Both amendments are aimed at providing an opportunity for RPG to get both lakes down as close to the lower limit as possible prior to spring freshet, something that is not currently occurring on an annual basis. He noted, and everyone agreed, that we will almost certainly experience high water levels again because of the limits of control and snow pack and weather conditions.

Harold talked about the problem of the restriction between the Golden Lake bridge and the dam and suggested that dredging that area would be a key way to ease the situation. Some doubt was expressed that dredging could be done because of the sensitivity of the downstream wetland.

Don Pouliot mentioned that the Plan limits had been exceeded slightly each year since 2004, some years by a small amount, but in 2005 and 2008 by quite a lot.

Discussion of improved communications procedures and steps needed to put them in place - All

There was general agreement that operating both lakes so that flooding does not occur is very difficult. It is a balancing act.

Steve Fiegen talked about the communications challenges even within the same municipality. Everyone agreed that each township and each POA can make improved plans.

Janice said she would take this discussion back to her people, and also mentioned that the three municipalities have a standing committee and this issue could be put on its agenda.

Zig said the best approach is to plan and delegate so that when an emergency occurs people know what their roles are. There was general agreement that this is the right approach.

Jeff agreed that putting the weekly graph directly on the RPG web site (instead of a pdf file) along with the daily commentary would be a way to facilitate communications.

Action: Jeff Featherston.

Steve said that the three emergency coordinators for the townships have not tended to communicate with each other, and this can be improved in future.

Action: Steve Fiegen to contact his counterparts at the other two townships, perhaps by passing on these minutes to them and discussing communications issues.

Discussion of measures that each stakeholder can take during high water level emergencies - All

Steve said that pre-positioning sand and sandbags is too costly. These things can be deployed fairly quickly, but not in advance, he said.

Harold said NAW keeps an inventory of sand bags and they can respond quite quickly.

Wendy asked if there would be an opportunity to talk about the BRWMP. It was pointed out that it should be considered a separate issue from the emergency levels communications issue. There was a discussion of who would be involved and who would host such a meeting.

Summary of discussion, conclusions and next steps - Kevin O'Connor

Peter suggested that in the first or second week of March a representative group could meet to discuss the prospects for a flooding. This was generally agreed to. As a follow up to this meeting, it was agreed that each of the stakeholders would appoint a contact person for this group. It was also suggested that each stakeholder also appoint an alternate in case the contact person is unavailable at a critical time.

Action: Each of the eight stakeholders to appoint a contact person and alternate.

Note: Since the mid-March meeting would be based on conditions best known to RPG, it might be appropriate if RPG take on the secretarial/administrative function for managing the contact list and notifying participants. Subsequently, this was agreed to by RPG.

Kevin thanked everyone for their participation and expressed confidence that, with the goodwill and cooperation demonstrated at the meeting, the prospects are good that although high water levels may occur again in the future, the damage can be minimized.

Kevin adjourned the meeting at 3:25 pm.