RE: Westbury International…

RE: Westbury International ERO 019-1040 Jan 6th,2020
Homeowner/Waterfront residents comments re: Ministry Reference Number 0805BJTR33 – Proposal for a renewal of Permit to Take Water 5445-AtMM95

To the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks:

We are full time residents of Marion Lake, and are desperately trying to save the lake. It is also our understanding that after December 2019 no further Water taking Permits would be issued. We are very disappointed that Westbury has made this Renewal Application for Water Taking from Marion Lake for another 3 years, given the harm it has done to the lake, the shorelines and the species that inhabit it over the last 12 years.

Since 2017, when this Permit was first up for renewal, there has been significant correspondence between the residents and the Ministry over this file (some of which I have forwarded to Julie Munro) for review. When Westbury was granted a 2 year Renewal in 2017, as per 3.3 in the Permit, “This Permit is issued for a short term (2 seasons) as an interim solution, to allow the golf course to develop a long term solution in collaboration with local residents (see Condition 3.4 of this Permit).” It is our understanding that in this 2 year time period Westbury would reduce its water taking needs through enhanced water conservation methods, and was to find an alternative secondary source, if needed, and NO water taking would happen from our lake, after December, 2019.

The following email excerpt was received by us from Burnside Consultants on 8/31/2018 : “Currently the MECP has issued a permit to the golf course to review alternative water supplies and propose a long-term resolution to the concerns raised by the residents of Marion Lake ahead of the permit expiry date of December 31,2019. The work plan referenced in the permit is attached to this email, for your information. The approved work plan shows that by the end of 2018 we were to have a lake level management plan in place. At this point, the golf course will be moving towards reviewing alternative water taking sources with the assumption that water taking from Marion Lake will be regulated once levels drop below the overflow level (no flow exiting the lake). “

We have not seen the Supporting Documents or the 2019 Renewal Application that has been made on behalf of Westbury by their consultants (who are being paid by Westbury to execute the Renewal), however it is very concerning given all that has transpired that they are requesting the same volumes and same conditions with a 3 year term – given their acknowledgement in 2018 that they have reduced their water taking needs by 38% and we residents believed that the Permit would not be renewed after it expired in December 2019, due to the impact on the lake.

I would like to point out that in their 2017 Renewal Application, Marion Lake was constantly referred to as their Secondary Source of water and that they were only using Marion Lake for 14.7% of their Water Taking (see Renewal Application 2017) needs. In an email to the residents on July 6, 2018, Burnside Consultants emphasized that they had put in place all kinds of water conservation protocol and that they had reduced their water taking needs by 38%. Suffice it to say, that if this is indeed true, and if we really only supply them with 14.7% of their Water Taking needs, as per their 2017 Renewal application, then they should not need a Permit to take Water from Marion Lake anymore, at all.

We received this email about their water conservation initiatives on July 6 ,2018 from Burnside consultants however the effect on the water level of our lake by that time even with those “new protocols” in place was so devastating that we had to send the Ministry a Request to Revoke the portion of the Permit that affects Marion Lake. (See below Exhibit A). In 2018, May and June were extremely dry months and by July 7th, 2018 the shorelines of our lake were mudflats 30 feet out from the shoreline, (we have many photos), and the 2018 July-August golf season hadn’t even started.

It is also very important to note that all the recordings of water takings from Marion Lake done by the golf course in the past 12 years were guestimates, self reported and basically fabricated as there was never a flow meter on the outflow pipe, or knowledge of the true size of the pump in the lake. Without knowing the pump size and with no flow meter, there was NO ACCURACY to any of their volume numbers either in their application or in their reports submitted to the Ministry. Only from July 18, 2018 onward, the Golf Club had installed a flow meter on the pipe from Marion Lake, and was able to calibrate the true outflow volumes. After requesting numerous times for the flow meter readings in May, June and July 2018, we only received the following email on July 18th,2018 from Burnside: “The flow meter is now up and running, and we have completed calibrations to confirm its accuracy. The lake transfer is pumping at 190 L/min which complies with condition 3.3 of the permit, when water levels drop below 30cm.” It is therefore important to understand that prior to July 18, 2018, the golf club and Burnside Consultants had no proof/evidence as to the exact volume of water they were withdrawing from Marion Lake. But by that time, the lake was already so low that they had to reduce their water taking volumes significantly as per the Permit, and we were left without a lake to enjoy again for the summer of 2018.

The reason that we have this problem in the first place is the original conditions of the Permit. Whoever set the condition/parameters, the volume amounts, allowing for 100% volume withdrawal until 12” below the outflow grate to adjacent Thompson Lake and then reduced to 2/3 volume until 24” below the grate has very little understanding of our shallow lake. These volumes and conditions make absolutely no sense. Our shorelines are so shallow that 12” below the grate causes 30feet of mudflats from the shorelines. Not to mention interrupting the natural flow into Thompson Lake!! Not to mention the impact on the species and fish that inhabit the lake!! It is also important for the Ministry to understand that there are no inflows into Marion Lake, so the lake has no way apart from snow and rain, to replenish itself. Unlike other lakes in Muskoka where there is an abundance of water from rivers and streams causing floods, Marion Lake has none. So, with this Water Taking Permit we basically watch the water level of our lake drop so severely every summer that we are no longer able to enjoy it.

Summer 2019 we again experienced low lake levels and mudflats and on August 15th, 2019 we sent an email to the Ministry – specifically Karoly Tajnay, requesting that no further renewals or issuance of this Permit be granted as the health of the lake was paramount. (see below Exhibit B) Given that we have no inflow source, and that climate change and water evaporation can naturally reduce the water levels of our shallow lake alone, any additional water taking for commercial purposes has devastating consequences, and should just not be permitted. We truly believe that the Ministry is in the business of saving lakes, protecting the environment and species that inhabit them as opposed to allowing commercial negligence and the destruction of them. Remember too that Marion Lake, all the species and habitats that live within it were here first before the Golf Club and before the residents.

Thank you for considering our comments and below is Exhibit A and Exhibit B for your review. If you need any more information, clarification or back-up please contact Julie Munro to coordinate with us

Exhibit A:

Email sent to the Ministry – on July 10, 2018 to the following recipients: Karoly Tajnay, Lisa Trevison, Cindy Hood, Daniel Raisman, and Ted Belayneh (I have deleted some personal information)

To whom it may concern at the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change or Specifically to the Director:

I am addressing this to numerous individuals at the MOECC. if I have the incorrect recipients, I apologize, and please let me know by forwarding this email to the correct recipient and copy me for further correspondence.

Re: PTTW Number 5445-ATMM95 Complaint from homeowners on Marion Lake concerning the destruction and catastrophic consequences to the shorelines of Marion Lake due to the aforementioned Water Taking Permit

This email serves as our official complaint to the MOECC with respect to the 2 year PTTW5445-ATMM95 and any renewal going forward, the portion thereof, as it affects Marion Lake.The conditions of the Permit 3 through 6 were included to protect the quality of the natural environment so as to safeguard the ecosystem and human health and foster efficient use and conservation of waters, are not being met. We have dried up shorelines already from the water taking activities in just the first month of June.

We wish to request a severability as per section 2.5 of the agreement to include a revocation of the portion of the PTTW 5445-ATMM95 allowing the taking of any water from Marion Lake effective immediately for the following reasons: ( the portion of PTTW5445-ATMM95 with respect to the Irrigation Pond is to remain in tact)

1) The quantity and resulting draw down on the water levels of the lake as evidenced by the attached photos taken since May 31 should never have been approved in the first place given the shallow shorelines of the lake. It is our assumption that the approvals have taken place without any audit or visit by a MOE official and therefore there has been a complete misunderstanding of the size of the lake, depth and resulting impact the water taking has on the shallow shorelines. Otherwise the approvals never would have been made due to the adverse impact the dropping water levels have on the lake and surrounding shallow shoreline, ecosystems and habitats.Since May 31 we (homeowner) have been recording the water levels by using a board with ruler attached to the side of our dock. Each 24 hour period the pump is running the lake level drops on average 3/4”. Since May 31 to July 9th the lake level has dropped 11.5”. We only have 7” of water left at the end of our dock.( Please see the Photo attachments) - the first photo is taken May 31st. and the next ones are taken July 9th at which point the lake level has dropped 11.5" in a little over a month and before the peak water taking in July and August has occurred. As can be seen in the photos the shallow shoreline ecosystems and habitats have been completely dried up! Please see attached Table 1 showing our water level recordings from May 31- July 2nd. Also, of note during this time (month of June), and every year prior, the golf club was taking water from Marion Lake without the use of a flow meter. All records of takings have therefore been self reported. A flow meter was installed just one week ago, however there has been no historical data collected on the impacts to the water levels. The golf club has asked us (the homeowners) to provide them with the water level records for the month of June!! This also is in contravention of their permit Section 4.1, requiring the golf club to keep records for every day water is taken. The water levels had already dropped 10" before they began keeping measurements themselves. Which leads me to our second complaint.

2)The 2 year Permit renewal allows for the drawdown of water from the lake to 24” below the outflow grate to Lake Thompson which given that we are already at 12” below the grate, (July 10 - which triggers water taking reduction per permit PTTW 5445-ATMM95 Section 3.3) and only have another 6 1/2" of water at the end of our dock - Why is the MOE allowing the golf club to destroy our lake, by reducing the water level by 24” not to mention the habitats and ecosystems that are dependent on the water in the shallow shorelines. Even Burnside consultants have noted in the application that “it is noted that several important fish spawning areas are located along the shorelines and fluctuating water levels within the lake are therefore a concern to these habitats” pg 4 PTTW Application Oct 2017. Why is it OK for them therefore to drawdown the water level 24” at which point the lake will be entire mudflats surrounding and in front of docks? Once again we attribute this to a gross misunderstanding by the MOE of the size and true depth of our lake with its very shallow shorelines. Also of note, 1” below the grate interrupts the natural downstream flow to Thompson Lake a contravention of Section 5.2 of the Permit, so how is it OK to allow the water level to go down 24”? Who came up with this number? And how was it decided? We do not have 24” on the shorelines!! Once again there is clearly a misunderstanding of the shallow shorelines of our lake by the Ministry, or this never would have been permitted.

3) We have reviewed the Renewal Application made by the golf club in 2017 and the supporting materials of their water taking activities, and would like to propose the following solution. Throughout the application the Golf Club has made reference to the fact that Marion Lake is only a Secondary Source of water and that they only use Marion Lake for 14.7% of their irrigation needs (pg7 PTTW Renewal Application Oct 2017). After doing some background research I have noticed that with certain water conservation measures, golf course irrigation needs in Ontario can in some cases be reduced by as much as 35%. (see link https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/bitstream/handle/10012/8472/Peister_Carly… a thesis on Water Use on Ontario golf courses, which may be of interest to the golf club and the MOE in support of this ). If a reduction of 35% is possible then asking you to permanently terminate their water taking activities from Marion Lake (their secondary source) representing just 14.7% is with certainty doable. I would also like to point out that the water irrigation at the golf club used absolutely no water conservation methods and in fact wastefully used and still wastefully uses water as evidenced in a) and b) below.

a) Please look at the attached Port Carling Golf Club water taking tables for 2016 compared to Environment Canada’s rainfall for the following just one example. On September 17, 2016 it rained so hard that day, all day with monsoon like winds. And in fact it was the one day in September with the highest ppt that month,29.3mm (see attached Environment Canada records) When I checked the PTTW Water taking records for September 17,2016 it had by far the highest amount of water use from the Irrigation Pond to the golf course ( see attached data), of 1,621,091 litres on the day of the month with the highest rainfall of the month at 29.3mm, that day!!!. How does that happen? This clearly demonstrates their misuse of our lake water!! It also illustrates their haphazard/inaccurate recording of data.

b) Secondly, the history of the Golf Course built a row of multiple town houses on Donald Drive. These townhomes are now all freehold. However, these townhouses' sprinkler irrigation systems for their lawns are connected to the golf course irrigation system and are being watered early in the morning by the golf course irrigation system using our lake water!!!! Not only are their lawns being watered but so is the whole of Donald Drive, wasting water yet being kept nice and green at the expense of our lake!!!! The homeowners on Marion Lake have to use municipal water for irrigation. Why are these homes not on municipal water for their irrigation needs?? See attached photos taken yesterday morning July 9th when the golf course irrigation system was on.

In a recent email from Stephen Kajan of Burnside (consultants to the Golf Course) dated July 6th to the homeowners, he indicated that the golf club has reduced their water irrigation needs from the Irrigation Pond so far this year by 38% to 7,147,724 litres to date in 2018 compared to 2016 11,566,647 litres for the same period. If that is indeed the case then suffice it to say that if they have reduced their water needs by 38% then they should not be needing Marion Lake as a secondary source at all given it only supplies them with 14.7% of their past total irrigation water taking needs. Therefore the revocation of the water taking from Marion Lake on their permit will not impact their water irrigation needs given these current conservation efforts and that the Irrigation Pond provides them with more than sufficient water based on their past provided and reported numbers to the Ministry. We applaud the golf course for making these self reported changes, however our lake level continues to drop 3/4" each day they are pumping water and we insist there are considerably more conservation efforts to do including 3b) above. More importantly, we are more interested in immediately saving our lake and the species that inhabit it, and therefore cannot wait any longer. Given the evidence of their current conservation measures this year, dropping water needs by 38%, cancelling the Marion Lake portion of the PTTW representing 14.7% of their total irrigation needs would therefore not impact their irrigation requirements, and should not be a problem.

If you have any questions to my comments above, please contact me at xxxxxx. Otherwise I look forward to your response and actions to help save our lake.

Any further delays to action will cause additional adverse effects on the lake and as per the agreement it will be incumbent on Westbury and failing that the MOE to restore/replenish our lake water levels to their normal level ensuring the safety and health of the lake and its ecosystems. If the portion of the PTTW concerning Marion Lake is not revoked before the beginning of August, we will be requesting Westbury and the MOE to restore our lake levels as per letter from Ministry dated April 14, 2014 to Westbury and reads on page 2 paragraph 2 “ One of the purposes of the issuance of a Permit is to ensure that the permitted taking(s) will not cause negative impacts to the environment or other water supplies which were in use prior to the date of this Permit. If the taking of water should result in any negative impacts, the Permit Holder Westbury International (1991) Corporation will be required to restore the water supplies of those affected in a manner acceptable to the OME or to reduce the rate and amount of taking until any negative impacts are eliminated."

Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter in saving Marion Lake, a very small lake with 7 waterfront homes. I have copied the other residents on the lake, as their concerns are as great as ours, if not greater. You may also be hearing from them.

Kindest regards,

Exhibit B

Email sent August 15, 2019 to the Ministry – specifically Karoly Tajnay
Good afternoon Karoly,
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> I hope you are having a good summer. I wanted to reach out to you again this year as a follow-up to my many emails from last summer concerning the detrimental effect the above (or any) water taking permit is having on Marion Lake. The above permit was issued for 2 years and expires in December of this year and I am enclosing a photo of our lake taken today. The normal water level should be touching the freeboard on our dock, yet once again the constant water taking volume has resulted in mudflats on our shorelines.
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> The golf club has been pumping water for 24 hours since the beginning of July - (May and June were naturally wet) and the water level is now down 12”. Our biggest concern is that any amount of water taking by the golf course results in mudflats on the shorelines with devastating consequences on the ecosystems and quality of the water. Mudflats were present in mid July this year!! Even 1” drawdown interrupts the outflow to our neighbouring lake Thompson lake. The very sad situation is that although the rest of Muskoka is often dealing with floods and too much water, our small lake which has no source for inflow - and therefore does not flood - is suffering the consequences of too much water taking by the golf course!! Surely there are alternatives for the golf course as Muskoka struggles with too much water in other lakes!!
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> Could you please contact me at the below number as I would like to discuss if there is anything else you need from us, the residents on the lake to ensure this permit does not get renewed and that no more water taking will be allowed from Marion Lake going forward after 2019. We really do wish to preserve the health of this lake.
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> Thanks so much,
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> Kindest regards,

In conclusion a picture is worth a thousand words, so please check with Julie Munro as we will be sending her numerous pictures of the devastating effect this water taking permit has had on our small lake.

Thank you in advance for saving Marion Lake