Credit River Watershed Water Resource System

Defining Our Water Resource System

A water resource system is a network of rivers, lakes, ponds, wetlands, and groundwater features that work together to support the flow and storage of water across the landscape. The water resource system provides the water needed for healthy plants, wildlife, and ecosystems, as well as drinking water for people.

What’s included in the Water Resource System?

CVC’s Water Resource System includes::

Watercourses

Channels of flowing water, including rivers, streams, and swales.

Waterbodies

Bodies of water, including natural and human-created lakes and ponds.

Wetlands

Areas of land covered by shallow water, seasonally or permanently. The four major types of wetlands are marshes, swamps, bogs and fens.

Seepage areas and springs

Field observations of groundwater emerging from the ground.

Highly Vulnerable Aquifers (HVAs)

Aquifers that can be easily impacted by contamination from human activities and natural processes.

Significant Groundwater Recharge Areas (SGRAs)

Recharge areas that help maintain the water level in an aquifer that supplies drinking water.

Candidate Ecologically Significant Groundwater Recharge Areas (ESGRAs)

Recharge areas that directly support sensitive aquatic ecosystems, such as coldwater streams and wetlands.

Watercourses with high simulated groundwater discharge

Streams that receive a significant amount of groundwater to help maintain the baseflow of the stream.

Potential groundwater discharge areas

Areas where groundwater is likely to emerge from the ground based on modelling from the Oak Ridges Moraine Groundwater Program.

 

Protecting Our Water Resources

The Water Resource System is:

• A resource for our partners to guide their strategies and plans.
• Understood through data collected in our long-term inventory and monitoring programs.
• Characterized in CVC’s Watershed Plan, which will identify a suite of management actions to guide our work with our partners.
• Managed through collaborative efforts between CVC, local partners, businesses and private landowners. To get involved check Ways to Green Your Property.