Teeterville Dam, Big Creek
The Ontario Provincial Climate Change Impact Assessment (2023) utilized historical and projected future climate data as fundamental components to assess the risks and consequences of extreme weather events, as well as projections of future climate risks. It reports that “changes in Ontario’s climate are expected to continue at unprecedented rates… and it will pose indirect threats to things like water availability and water quality.” [i] The report further indicates that southern Ontario will see upwards of 55-60 extreme heat days annually by the 2080s—a fourfold increase from the current annual average of 16 days. These changes threaten stream temperature regimes, species survival, wetland retention, and seasonal flows. Failing to categorize and weight these risks appropriately jeopardizes the matrix’s integrity and relevance to present-day climate conditions.
Climate change will have severe negative effects on water quality, water quantity, aquatic life, habitat, riverine ecosystem sustainability, and communities that rely on these freshwater resources. Alternatives 1, 2 and 3 would leave a dam in place, diminish stream resilience, degrade water quality and quantity, and place the creek’s entire ecosystem at increasingly greater risk.
[i] Ontario Provincial Climate Change Impact Assessment, Technical Report, January 2023. Online: https://www.ontario.ca/files/2023-11/mecp-ontario-provincial-climate-change-impact-assessment-en-2023-11-21.pdf