Dr. Schiefer commenced the 2002 Water Quality Monitoring Program on May 11 with a workshop conducted at the township offices. Some additional teams will be working in The Archipelago, and for the first time, in Carling. The Township of Georgian Bay has also increased that program. This year we will have the assistance of an intern who will be including this work in her graduate thesis.

The Township of the Archipelago is fortunate to have some of the most outstanding freshwater environments on the continent. We as residents are fortunate that our township is one of the most progressive and environmentally activist in the province.

The purpose of the program remains in general to continue the development of a longer-term database, which will be instrumental in future, efforts to manage and protect our water quality and ecosystems. Over the three years that the program has been in existence a great deal of information has been gathered and in turn we have learned a lot about how our aqua system works and very importantly where the water in front of our cottages is coming from. Long held notions about our local waters have proven to be too simplistic and often inaccurate.

The E. coli levels in the South Channel were in general not excessive at the South Channel test sites, with the exception of those located at the mouths of the Seguin and Boyne rivers. On the other hand the total coliform levels at virtually all locations was unusually high through most of the summer and early fall. These very high levels were not found in the areas adjacent to the South Channel, but they were observed in two areas of the township of Georgian Bay. Since these phenomena did not occur in past years, dr. Schiefer suggests that they have a natural origin and are likely not associated with pathogens of human health concern. However, coliform levels of this magnitude should be considered when using the water for drinking or for recreation. The total coliform levels in 2000 were higher than those of the previous two years.

I expect to resume testing later in May and I should have some inkling about the direction that bacterial levels are heading by mid-summer. We expect to again do some random sampling at other locations in the South Cannel area again this year, and a test site in Mill Lake will included this year.

Stan Topping