Town of Fort Erie

Water Quality analysis for Town of Fort Erie

Challenge

The Town of Fort is one of the fastest-growing communities in Niagara, and has experienced a high level of residential and commercial development in the past few years. The Town has 33 municipal drains, the majority are located throughout agricultural lands. They drain into Lake Erie or the Niagara River. Drain maintenance is a routine activity needed to remove excessive sediment and vegetative impediments, as well as to restore width-to-depth ratios of the waterway in order to regain the capacity of the drain to effectively pass flows. Many of the drains have not been monitored for water quality to determine if they are a contributing factor to the phosphorus levels occurring in the Great Lakes. These drains have a user-pay system for landowners within the watershed, and any cost savings items associated with drain maintenance that can be identified in an upcoming engineer’s report are beneficial.

Solution

Analyze water quality to assist the Town of Fort Erie and its stakeholders in developing plans to reduce or eliminate nutrients before the water enters Lake Erie or the Niagara River. The water-quality study which reviewed phosphates, nitrates, turbidity, etc., also allowed for improved design decisions when drain maintenance/re-design is outlined in an engineer’s report.