We have endured water level…

We have endured water level and environmental disruptions on Marion Lake for almost 20 years. Some of these MIGHT be linked to natural causes, but we believe that MOST are a direct result of the Port Carling Golf Course’s withdrawal of water for irrigation.

To our knowledge the original golf course owner withdrew unlimited water from Marion Lake without a permit. The subsequent/current owner obtained a PTTW with a cap, but it was for a 10-year period allowing an astronomical withdrawal of 817,920 liters per day. Next a “temporary” two-year PTTW was renewed to the same owner but with an even lower cap of 408,960 liters allowed per day. Theoretically, each decrease in water removal should have inversely increased the health of Marion Lake, but sadly this was not the case. Even if the conditions of the temporary permit were met (a Freedom of Information request is pending) the carnage to the shoreline persisted. Furthermore, if Burnside’s PowerPoint presentation was accurate in reporting a negligible annual average removal of “1.5% of the total volume of water from Marion Lake”, then clearly ZERO water can be removed without consequences. A PTTW from Marion Lake by Westbury International should be prohibited, not renewed with an increased duration of three years compared to the previous “temporary” permit of two years.

On a personal note, it is unacceptable that the needs of ONE user continues to be paramount to the needs of the NINE other users and the needs of the ecosystem on Marion Lake. Similarly, the apparent unapologetic position of the golf course’s entitlement, destroying natural habitat with immunity while taking the “allowed” amount of water, is unconscionable. There could never be enough measurements of the grate, liters per day pumped, flow rates, weather charts etc. that would be amenable for green fairways surrounded by brown lakes. Data without context is useless anyway and a simple pair of eyes on our before and after irrigation pictures (enclosed as a pdf attachment) should be all that is needed to stop the insanity.

If it could be proven that the Port Carling Golf course’s removal of water for irrigation was not the singular cause for Marion Lake’s degradation, and that in fact the lake’s fragility is shared with an association with global warming or some other environmental or geological misfortune, this would actually intensify the need for cessation of unnatural water removal of any kind. In fairness, since the last two decades favoured the golf course’s needs, perhaps the next two decades should be allotted for Marion Lake’s needs to be paramount. All going well, climate change will be solved, Marion Lake will be thriving with rejuvenation and the golf course will be lush with water from an alternate, less precarious source than Marion Lake. At the very least, an application for a PTTW could be tabled again in 2040 when there is a better picture of Marion Lake’s destiny. In the meantime, to be clear, we adamantly oppose a PTTW being issued to Westbury International.