Delisting of the St. Clair River as an Area of Concern (AOC) is achieved through the restoration of Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs). A BUI is a common use or feature of a waterway that has been negatively impacted due/by to local environmental degradation.
The Canada-United States Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) identifies 14 beneficial uses that must be restored in order to remove the designation as an AOC. Each BUI has a set of locally-defined de-listing criteria that are specific, measurable, achievable, and scientifically-defensible. Of the 14 beneficial uses outlined by the IJC, eight were originally “Impaired”, four were classified as “Requires Further Assessment”, and two were “Not Impaired”. The table below lists all 14 possible impairments as well as their most recent status for the St. Clair River Canadian AOC.
Tipping the scales of progress in the
St. Clair River Area of Concern
…will be considered restored when fish consumption advisories in indicator fishes (e.g. walleye, brown bullhead, and smallmouth bass) in the AOC are the same or less restrictive than the associated Great Lakes or appropriate reference sites and when the general guidance for the consumption of indicator wildlife (e.g. snapping turtles, geese) are no different than the non-AOC sites in the Great Lakes.
Impaired
…will be considered restored when the incidence rates of fish tumours or other deformities do not exceed rates at unimpacted control sites and when survey data confirm the absence of neoplastic or preneoplastic live tumours in bullheads or suckers.
Impaired status removed June 2011.
Not Impaired
…will be considered restored when environmental conditions support healthy, self-sustaining communities of desired fish and wildlife at predetermined levels of abundance that would be expected from the amount and quality of suitable physical, chemical and biological habitat present. An effort must be made to ensure that fish and wildlife objectives for Areas of Concern are consistent with Great Lakes ecosystem objectives and Great Lakes Fishery Commission fish community goals. Further, in the absence of community structure data, this use will be considered restored when fish and wildlife bioassays confirm no significant toxicity from water column or sediment contaminants.
Requires Further Assessment
…will be considered restored when the incidence rates of fish tumours or other deformities do not exceed rates at unimpacted control sites and when survey data confirm the absence of neoplastic or preneoplastic liver tumours in bullheads or suckers.
RFA status removed June 2021.
Not Impaired
…will be considered restored when the incidence rates of deformities (e.g. cross-bill syndrome) or reproductive problems (e.g. egg-shell thinning) in sentinel wildlife species do not exceed background levels in inland control populations.
Impaired status removed November 2018.
Not Impaired
…will be considered restored when the benthic community structure, diversity and abundance are not significantly different to suitable, unimpacted reference sites within the AOC of comparable physical (sediment, grain size, water velocity) and chemical characteristics; and when benthic invertebrate tissue contaminant concentrations (body burdens) are comparable to suitable, unimpacted reference sites within the AOC or when all remedial options, recommended to address the areas of interest for contaminated sediment, have been completed and follow-up monitoring confirms their effectiveness.
Impaired
…will be considered restored when there is no limitation on the disposal of dredging spoils from routine dredging in the St. Clair River.
Impaired status removed October 2018.
Not Impaired
This BUI was deemed Not Impaired when the IJC originally classified each BUI.
Not Impaired
…will be considered restored when there are no treatment plant shutdowns due to exceedances of drinking water guidelines over a two-year period.
Impaired
…will be considered restored when less than 20% of the geometric means of water samples collected over the swimming season, at identified beaches within the St. Clair River AOC, exceed the Provincial Water Quality Objective for E. coli or is similar to a suitable non-AOC reference site, when assessed over a period of at least three to five years.
Impaired status removed October 2018.
Not Impaired
…will be considered restored when the waters are devoid of anthropogenic substances at levels that produce a persistent objectionable deposit and/or odour.
Impaired status removed January 2016.
Not Impaired
Requires Further Assessment status removed 2012.
Not Impaired
This BUI was deemed Not Impaired when the IJC originally classified each BUI.
Not Impaired
…will be considered restored when:
1. Administrative and legislative mechanisms are in place to protect recognized aquatic, wetland and terrestrial habitats from destruction and degradation.
2. Wetland coverage within the subwatershed of Area 1A is 6-10%, or is restored to the extent possible, and 155 hectares of wetland habitat is rehabilitated, created, or protected within the Chenel Ecarte, Walpole Island First Nation delta or along the eastern shore of Lake St. Clair.
3. Habitat connectivity between the St. Clair River and Sydenham River and between Walpole Island First Nation, Bickford Oak Woods and the Aamjiwnaang First Nation has been improved using landscape ecology principles.
4. 50% of the tributary lengths in Area 1A are buffered by a minimum width of 5 metres of natural vegetation to improve fish habitat.
5. Nearshore and shoreline fish habitat has been enhanced at 6-12 priority sites along the St. Clair River to demonstrate the benefits of integrating shoreline protection with fish habitat enhancement.
6. Wetland habitat quality achieves an integrated ranking of ‘Good’ or better based on the IBI scores for water quality, submerged aquatic vegetation, aquatic invertebrates, fish and birds or, when the quality of the wetlands in the AOC are shown to be comparable to reference wetlands outside the AOC.
7. A long-term Fish and Wildlife Habitat Management Plan for Ontario is completed to facilitate habitat restoration and protection beyond AOC delisting.
Impaired
Given that the St. Clair River is a shared waterbody between Canada and the United States, efforts continue binationally to delist the St. Clair River from the list of Areas of Concern. While efforts are coordinated when possible, both countries have adopted their own strategy to addressing beneficial use impairments.
The following chart provides the current status of BUIs on both the Canadian and American side of the St. Clair River Area of Concern:
© 2024 · Friends of the St. Clair River.