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Lake Ontario–St. Lawrence River Framework Data Project examines ups and downs of water levels
When water levels rise in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, recreational boaters tend to rejoice. But cottage owners, facing potential erosion of their shorelines, have less reason to celebrate. Boaters and cottage owners represent but two of several groups, including marina operators, environmentalists, shipping firms, and hydroelectric companies, who are affected by fluctuating water levels in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.
GeoConnections is helping stakeholders better understand how fluctuating water levels may affect their livelihoods, pastimes, and interests. By contributing to the Lake Ontario–St. Lawrence River Framework Data Project, a five-year, $27-million study launched by the International Joint Commission (IJC), GeoConnections is enabling stakeholders to develop the geographic information systems (GIS) needed to evaluate the impact of fluctuating water levels.
Study aims to optimize water-level regulation strategies
The IJC study is evaluating the criteria used to regulate water levels in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. The bi-national study team comprises experts from government, academia, Aboriginal communities, and groups who represent the geographical, scientific, and community interests of the Lake Ontario–St. Lawrence River system.
“The study is intended to enable improved decision making and a better understanding of the impacts of fluctuating water levels,” says Mr. Ian Gillespie, geographic information officer with Environment Canada and former Canadian co-lead of the study's Information Management Technical Working Group. “The goal is to minimize economic losses due to water-level fluctuations, protect shore habitats, and reduce disruptions to recreational boating, all while addressing the needs of hydropower companies, commercial navigators, and municipal water systems.”
GeoConnections supports GIS efforts
The study team created nine technical working groups, each representing a different set of stakeholders. The Information Management Technical Working Group was formed to collect topographic and bathymetric (water-depth) data and information detailing the shores of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, and to help stakeholders share, discover, access, and use data generated by the study.
As one of many partners in the study, Environment Canada, through the Information Management Technical Working Group, sought funding from GeoConnections to help develop and implement a strategy to enhance storing, maintaining, and accessing a wide variety of data and information assets for effective decision making.
“GeoConnections helped us support the study by promoting emerging tools, technologies, and Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI)-endorsed Open Geospatial Consortium standards,” says Mr. Gillespie. “For instance, we used some of our funding to hold workshops to train other technical working groups. These workshops showed that by complying with CGDI-endorsed standards and specifications, members of the working groups could make it easier for people to discover, access, and use the data generated by the study.”
Where would the study be without GeoConnections? “Different groups would have been spending needless time and energy collecting the same data,” says Mr. Gillespie. “With support from GeoConnections, we were able to promote the importance of data sharing, as well as allocate resources to deliver on an information management strategy that supports the eight other technical working groups.”
Boaters want depth—of water and data
The Recreational Boating and Tourism Technical Working Group is one such beneficiary. If high or low water levels hamper boaters' access to the water, marina owners and the tourism industry—not to mention boaters themselves—can suffer.
The Recreational Boating and Tourism Technical Working Group relies on sophisticated web mapping programs to analyze and display their data. For instance, not unlike the precipitation maps used by TV weather channels, web-based maps can represent different water depths with different colours. Applied in “what if” scenarios, this technique lets people quickly see how a rise or fall in water levels can affect them.
“We want to show how water-level variations affect different groups in the community,” says Mr. Serge St. Martin, Canadian co-lead of the Recreational Boating and Tourism Technical Working Group and national administrative officer of the Canadian Power and Sail Squadrons. “For instance, what would happen if the water level fell by two feet? Perhaps in that case, a number of marinas wouldn't be able to operate without dredging. And maybe some people would have to walk another fifty feet to get to their favourite beach. When we show this type of information to the public, people better appreciate the impacts of rising and falling water levels.”
By enabling recreational boaters and a host of other interested parties to better understand the consequences of fluctuating water levels, the Lake Ontario–St. Lawrence River Framework Data Project will help ensure that the river system maximizes the benefits to users on both sides of the issue and the border.
| GeoConnections is a national partnership initiative led by Natural Resources Canada to build the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) and make Canada's geospatial databases, tools, and services readily accessible on-line. |