Ongoing efforts for a future phosphorus reduction facility in the Holland Marsh took another step forward this week.
Based on a report from deputy chief administrative officer Mahesh Ramdeo, council authorized staff Nov. 19 to negotiate the terms of a deal with the provincial Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks to see Bradford become the proponent and owner of the facility.
“This has been a long time coming,” Coun. Jonathan Scott said. “The growth keeps coming and the growth keeps flowing into the Holland Marsh basin."
The chair of the town’s green initiatives committee, and advocate for the “major” project, stressed the importance of reducing phosphorus levels from development which are contaminating the lake, and the advantage of using the West Holland River as a “choke point” for treatment.
While the design and location have yet to be determined, the facility is intended to reduce phosphorus runoff in the river, before it drains into Lake Simcoe, by about 10 tonnes per year.
According to the Ontario government’s Lake Simcoe Protection Plan from 2009, the goal is to reduce phosphorus pollution in Lake Simcoe by 50 per cent to 44 tonnes each year, which is needed to prevent excessive weed growth and algae blooms in the cold-water fishery.
“I’m excited about the project. I think it’s cutting edge,” Bradford West Gwillimbury Mayor James Leduc said. “It’s great to see us taking the lead on it.”
In November 2023, the town expressed an interest in collaborating on the design and construction of the facility and on Nov. 5 this year, the ministry invited the town to negotiate a memorandum of understanding to be the proponent and owner of the project, according to the report.
As part of the invitation, the MECP committed to:
- Provide the $24 million in capital funding committed in 2022 to implement the project.
- Help the secure $16 million in federal funding allocated under the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund.
- Explore providing additional funds for capital costs as well as approaches to fund the ongoing operation and maintenance for the project.
- Explore provisions under the Supporting Growth and Housing in York and Durham Regions Act, 2022 to help implement the project.
In the report, Ramdeo explained staff are confident the town has the appropriate personnel to oversee the design, construction and operation of the facility, and if approved, the first step would be an environmental report.
While he called the facility “a great solution” to pollution in the lake, Coun. Peter Ferragine, who is also a member of the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority (LSRCA) board, had concerns over the operating costs.
“It’s one thing to get the funding from the province and the feds to build it, but ... do we know what kind of costs we’re going to incur?” he asked.
Bradford West Gwillimbury CAO Geoff McKnight confirmed those details would be part of the negotiation.
“We made it clear it can’t be on the backs of our taxpayers,” he said.
Given the lake’s surface area of about 722 square kilometres, Ferragine suggested the LSRCA should be the operator, so the costs could be shared by all nine member municipalities, and Leduc confirmed that would be considered.
In 2021, Bradford’s then-mayor Rob Keffer wrote a letter in support of the project, and that same year both Scott and Georgina Coun. Dave Neeson put forward motions pushing for it.
Those efforts were also joined by councillors from other nearby communities.
In the meantime, Bradford’s green initiatives committee has also been looking at other steps to help address phosphorus levels, for some of which the province announced $284,000 in May.
