Stratford, P.E.I. working to limit storm runoff in area waterways

The Town of Stratford is adding new measures to prevent runoff at the construction site for the town's new emergency services building, after heavy rain earlier this week caused problems for a nearby pond.

Kelly's Pond in Pondside Park was red with silt Wednesday morning, after heavy rainfall overnight. 

"We had a clean pond here this year for about a month. A lot of different bird species, a lot of activity and life. After the runoff event, pond bottom smothered, everything leaves, it's basically silent," said Dave Barrett, chair of the Stratford Area Watershed Improvement Group.

"A few more of these, the pond could hit a tipping point and essentially just be a dead pond."

Concerns and discussions about the health of Kelly's Pond have been ongoing for years. Barrett said 2018 was particularly rough for the pond, with more than a dozen "significant runoff events."

Last year, the town created a committee to look at rehabilitating the pond. 

Town working to protect environment

Looking at the murky water following this week's runoff, Barrett worries this year could be a repeat of last year, if better prevention measures aren't put in place. 

"We have a system here that is under intense pressure and cannot handle any more runoff events of the magnitude that we're seeing."

At the construction site for the emergency services building on Georgetown Road, there was silt fencing in place, but it wasn't enough to prevent runoff during Tuesday's rainfall. 

"We had a large amount of rain in a fairly short period of time, so we think that the erosion control measures that we had in place just simply got overwhelmed," said Kevin Reynolds, Stratford's director of planning, development and heritage. 

"We're hoping that we can put some more stringent control measures in place to try and prevent this from happening in the future."

Whatever erosion control measures you have in place, they can possibly be overwhelmed.— Kevin Reynolds

Reynolds says environmental protection is something the town takes seriously, and it was "disappointing" that runoff occurred from a project the town is directly involved in. 

More control measures added

The province says it received a number of complaints about the runoff. After inspecting the site, the Department of Environment, Water and Climate Change issued a directive to the town to hire a consultant, and put new control measures in place.

Reynolds says even before receiving the order, work had already begun on improvements. Workers have added straw bails, and also plan to add gabions — metal baskets or cages filled with rocks. 

"Whatever erosion control measures you have in place, they can possibly be overwhelmed. But we're trying to lessen the number of occurrences that can possibly happen within any given year," Reynolds said.

Barrett said he is glad the town is taking action, though he would also like to see more frequent monitoring, to catch the potential runoff before it happens.

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