Panel on salt in Ramsey Lake part of larger conversation

The director of the Vale Living with Lakes Centre says a recent panel discussion on salt levels in Ramsey Lake is just the start of an important conversation Sudbury needs to have.

John Gunn, who is also a Canada Research Chair on stressed aquatic systems, was one of the panelists gathered by the Greater Sudbury Watershed Alliance on Monday.

The organization has been sounding the alarm about road salt leading to increased levels of sodium in Ramsey Lake.

Salt levels tied to overall water quality

Gunn says salt levels are an indicator of how we're treating our land and waterways.

"As salt rises you have to assume that most things that leave the land and other pollutants or nutrients are also entering the lake," he explains.

"And the salt itself is a concern to really sensitive organisms, such as daphnia and freshwater mussels. Those are organisms that we depend on to keep the water clean of algae."

In addition to the health risks associated with high levels of sodium in water, Gunn says salt can have an effect on everything from overall water quality to property values.

He points to studies from the United States linking a decrease in water quality to a decrease in property values.

"There's millions and millions of dollars of potential property value losses on lakes like Ramsey, that affect not only the resident, but whether people want to move here or not," Gunn says.

Time to improve watershed management

There's also the added concern of climate change, which Gunn says requires communities to be more cautious about how they treat their shorelines and landscapes.

He says it's now time to move the conversation forward, and invest in efforts and technology to improve watershed management.

"The way the community is now galvanizing its interest in water quality and algae, it might be the right time to be imagining quite a different Sudbury in the future, where we truly become the city of lakes."