Posted with permission from the Hamilton Spectator
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The shallow body of water located in the east end of the Hamilton Harbour at the mouth of the Red Hill Creek has been a contaminated site for decades. But by next September the basin will be a wetland ecosystem that will hopefully encourage more wildlife and fish habitat, increase the appeal of the eastern gateway into the city and help in delisting Hamilton Harbour as an area of concern.
“It really is a good news story for the City of Hamilton, its not everyday wetlands are being created, they are usually destroyed, especially in the East end of Hamilton in an industrial area,” said John Helka, senior project manager.
The $20 million project is getting $13.8 million from the federal and provincial governments while the city picks up the rest. The area is roughly half a kilometre by half a kilometre.
By the end of the year, Helka says they plan to have the major infrastructure completed. This work includes the building of dykes, installing a pump chamber, constructing a fish way and putting in fencing to separate property boundaries.
An isolation dyke will separate the wetland completely from the Red Hill Creek and the Parkdale sewer overflow to avoid further contamination. Helka says extensive testing shows the sediment that exists now has been impacted, but isn’t hazardous. It will remain in the basin.
But as a precaution, there will be a buffer of clean, clay capping material that will sit between the sediment and the bottom of the new wetland so it cannot affect the wildlife.
In the new year, the capping material will be brought in and the ecosystem enhancements will begin. This work will include aquatic and upland terrestrial planting, fish spawning structures and grading additional islands.
The Common Tern is a major bird species that have been nesting at a dyke in the basin and in an attempt to increase the population, part of the project will include enhancing that dyke. The new islands are also expected to attract more birds.
“It’s going to be a long-term commitment — first of all, we don’t know how nature is going to react, so we have to adaptively manage this wetland,” said Helka.
John Hall, co-ordinator for the Hamilton Remedial Action Plan, says they are very pleased with the approach the city has taken and are looking forward to the wetland being created. The troubled basin is now seeing better days as the city is moving closer to what the basin was originally used for by fish and wild life.
“In really simple terms, every thing that an urban centre, Hamilton, can throw at a body of water, Windermere Basin historically has received,” said Hall. “You might say it’s come full circle.”
_________________________________________
The shallow body of water located in the east end of the Hamilton Harbour at the mouth of the Red Hill Creek has been a contaminated site for decades. But by next September the basin will be a wetland ecosystem that will hopefully encourage more wildlife and fish habitat, increase the appeal of the eastern gateway into the city and help in delisting Hamilton Harbour as an area of concern.
“It really is a good news story for the City of Hamilton, its not everyday wetlands are being created, they are usually destroyed, especially in the East end of Hamilton in an industrial area,” said John Helka, senior project manager.
The $20 million project is getting $13.8 million from the federal and provincial governments while the city picks up the rest. The area is roughly half a kilometre by half a kilometre.
By the end of the year, Helka says they plan to have the major infrastructure completed. This work includes the building of dykes, installing a pump chamber, constructing a fish way and putting in fencing to separate property boundaries.
An isolation dyke will separate the wetland completely from the Red Hill Creek and the Parkdale sewer overflow to avoid further contamination. Helka says extensive testing shows the sediment that exists now has been impacted, but isn’t hazardous. It will remain in the basin.
But as a precaution, there will be a buffer of clean, clay capping material that will sit between the sediment and the bottom of the new wetland so it cannot affect the wildlife.
In the new year, the capping material will be brought in and the ecosystem enhancements will begin. This work will include aquatic and upland terrestrial planting, fish spawning structures and grading additional islands.
The Common Tern is a major bird species that have been nesting at a dyke in the basin and in an attempt to increase the population, part of the project will include enhancing that dyke. The new islands are also expected to attract more birds.
“It’s going to be a long-term commitment — first of all, we don’t know how nature is going to react, so we have to adaptively manage this wetland,” said Helka.
John Hall, co-ordinator for the Hamilton Remedial Action Plan, says they are very pleased with the approach the city has taken and are looking forward to the wetland being created. The troubled basin is now seeing better days as the city is moving closer to what the basin was originally used for by fish and wild life.
“In really simple terms, every thing that an urban centre, Hamilton, can throw at a body of water, Windermere Basin historically has received,” said Hall. “You might say it’s come full circle.”
