Watershed Plan Reports

This chapter describes watershed planning process and phases, with a link to policy context and the roles of CVC and partner municipalities in watershed management.

This chapter summarizes demographic characteristics today, and how they have changed over time. It includes information on population, age distribution, property ownership, ethnic diversity and immigration.

This chapter examines how the people who live in the watershed influence watershed conservation, and make land and water management decisions. This includes a discussion about factors that influence and drive the many conservation and stewardship activities we see on private and public lands throughout the watershed.

This chapter examines the history, composition, and use of public greenspace in the Credit River Watershed. It also summarizes pressures on these natural spaces.

This chapter provides an overview of the current climate conditions, the changes observed in air temperature and precipitation, and the environmental and social impacts of climate change in the watershed.

This chapter provides an overview of the watershed’s physiography, soils, geology, and hydrogeology, focusing on their relevance to the availability of groundwater as a potable water supply for watershed residents, and as a resource to support healthy ecosystems.

This chapter is part of a two-part series that discusses land cover and land use in the watershed. This chapter focuses on natural and semi-natural cover with discussions on how it has changed over time, and how it compares to watershed-scale targets.

This chapter focuses on anthropogenic land uses such as agriculture, urban land use, aggregates, roads and rails, and landfills, and the impacts they have on natural hazards, water resource and natural heritage systems in the watershed.

This chapter outlines the history of natural hazards within the watershed, including those regulated by CVC—such as riverine flooding and erosion, Lake Ontario shoreline flooding and erosion, dynamic beaches and unstable soils—as well as unregulated hazards like urban flooding, wind and ice damage, and fire. It also describes CVC’s role in monitoring, managing, and regulating these various types of hazards.

This chapter describes drinking water, wastewater and stormwater management systems, how they have changed through time, and provides an overview of how they influence the condition of water resources in the watershed.

This chapter describes the status and trends of water quantity in groundwater, the Credit River and its tributaries. This chapter also summarizes the water balance based on modelling exercises completed in the last 15 years.

This chapter summarizes CVC’s long-term monitoring data on channel morphology condition and trends across the watershed. To complement this information, a stream power model for all fourth order and greater watercourses provides information on energy availability and sediment transport patterns at the watershed scale.

This chapter describes the status and trends of water quality in groundwater, the Credit River and its tributaries. This includes an overview of key parameters of concern in surface water and groundwater, as well as surface water temperature.

This chapter provides an overview of the species that live here, and the threats to biodiversity both past and present. It includes information on species at risk and of conservation concern, non-native and invasive species, as well as species that have been lost or newly established in the watershed.

This chapter discusses the conditions and trends of plants, birds and tree health in forest communities. This includes discussions on forest integrity and the activities that influence these natural features, both past and present.

This chapter discusses the conditions and trends of plants and frogs in wetland communities. This includes discussions on wetland integrity and the activities that influence these natural features, both past and present.

This chapter discusses the conditions and trends of fish and benthic macroinvertebrate communities in streams, including activities that impact or improve these natural features.

This chapter provides an overview of the types of grassland communities in the watershed, as well the conditions of these ecosystems both past and present.

This chapter provides an overview of how natural heritage protection has changed over time, and where these features and systems are today.

This chapter assesses three of the many natural asset ecosystem goods and services provided by the watershed’s ecosystems: carbon sequestration, stormwater management, and recreation.

This chapter provides an overview of the key results from the characterization report chapters, identifies gaps in knowledge, and next steps to completing the watershed plan.