PORTLAND, July 18, 2022 – The village of Portland has been invaded by a new type of yellow fish – but this species is here to help. 

The Yellow Fish Road project is just one aspect of a larger sustainable drainage pilot program kicking off this summer, thanks to funding from the Township of Rideau Lakes and support from the Big Rideau Lake Association and Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority. The freshly painted roadside fish are meant to remind residents that storm drains are directly connected to our local lakes, rivers and streams – and that chemicals, fertilizers and feces should be kept well away for the health of the water and the community. 

This summer, staff from the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) are investigating novel ways to divert and capture runoff to reduce nutrients reaching Big Rideau Lake. These nutrients – which are washed into the water system as lawn fertilizers, detergents, septic system leaks and more – can cause excessive aquatic weed growth, contribute to harmful blue-green algae blooms and reduce overall water quality.  

The project’s goal is to recommend the best sustainable drainage techniques and practices available to help the Township of Rideau Lakes protect water quality for the entire community. 

RVCA staff will sample and monitor an urban catchment drain in the village of Portland and a rural non-agricultural drain just outside the village. Staff will also research best practices for sustainable drainage and implement some new practices this fall in an effort to reduce local runoff. 

“Our hope is to implement a few demonstration sites around town to really inspire people to get involved,” said Mike Yee, co-project manager, aquatic biologist and planner with the RVCA. “We want to raise awareness among residents that a few simple actions can protect their lake for the long term.”

Many established sustainable drainage practices are easy and cost-effective for residents to embrace right now, Yee said. These include installing a rain barrel, planting a rain garden, moving downspouts to a permeable area and adding native plants to shorelines and ditches.

“If everyone does a little, we can accomplish a lot,” Yee said. 

To learn more about sustainable drainage and for practical guides to implementing best practices, visit https://www.rvca.ca/sustainable-drainage-pilot-project-portland. 

For more information contact  or .

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RIDEAU VALLEY, June 10, 2022 – A new network of industrial weather stations will advance the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority’s capacity to track local weather, model future floods and track local climate change impacts into the future. 

The RVCA has installed 11 new all-season weather stations across the watershed. These will fill gaps in the current data network, expand RVCA’s list of tracked weather parameters and provide real-time weather data online for use by residents, municipalities, farmers, researchers and even local forecasters. 

“Our goal is to develop a watershed-wide model so we understand what’s happening in each part of the watershed,” said Brian Stratton, RVCA’s manager of engineering. “The new weather stations are a key piece in the development of a long-term model that can be used for hazard mapping, flood forecasting and tracking climate change trends.”

The industrial-strength stations – designed to withstand our coldest winters and hottest summers – will collect information on air temperature, dew point, relative humidity, air pressure, solar radiation, average wind speed and precipitation. The data is available through a new public portal on www.rvca.ca/weather-stations.

The addition of these stations will also improve Environment Canada’s ability to provide accurate weather forecasting for the region, as data from RVCA’s new stations will help corroborate what Environment Canada’s radar is predicting. 

“It’s a nice relationship,” said RVCA’s hydrometric co-ordinator Justin Robert. “We’ve programmed these stations for our own purposes, but everyone in the watershed will benefit.”

Climate researchers will also rejoice – in 30 years, anyway.

“By recording the real time climate, it’s going to set us up for some extensive knowledge down the road,” Robert said. “These weather stations are going to give us this footprint of our weather into our future, and it will be invaluable information to really understand our watershed and what’s going on.”

To learn more about the RVCA's Flood Forecasting and Warning program, visit www.rvca.ca/watershed-conditions.

New weather stations are located in: Andrewsville, Bobs Lake, Frankville, Kars, Mansfield, Marlborough, Montague, Motts Mills, Rainbow Lake, Snowdons Corners and Westport. For more information contact Brian Stratton at . 

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OTTAWA, June 7, 2022 — The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) has completed a hazard mapping study for Mosquito Creek from Mitch Owens Road to the Rideau River, in and around the community of Riverside South. Members of the public are invited to an upcoming open house to review regulation and hazard maps. 

Much of the area has been regulated since 2017 when hazard mapping was completed for the Rideau River from Hogs Back to Kars (Rideau River Flood Risk Mapping Report from Hogs Back to Kars, July 2017). This 2017 mapping captured Mosquito Creek from the Rideau River to Limebank Road. This new study reviews past mapping and extends upstream from Limebank Road to Mitch Owens. 

The new mapping shows areas that are subject to natural hazards such as flooding and unstable slopes and have natural environmental features such as wetlands. The mapping will be used by the City of Ottawa when updating Official Plans and Zoning Schedules and in the review of development applications under the Planning Act. RVCA will also use the mapping to guide the review of development applications submitted under the RVCA’s Development, Interference with Wetlands and Alterations to Shorelines and Watercourses Regulation.

The goal of this mapping is to help ensure that sound planning decisions are made — keeping people and property safe. Accurate engineered hazard mapping is the foundation of effective floodplain and resource management.

Members of the public are encouraged to attend the open house and/or provide comments on the mapping. The RVCA also welcomes every bit of information that we can obtain about the historical behaviour of local watercourses. Residents and landowners living along these features may have anecdotal or documented information such as photographs or journal entries of their observations during past high-water events or slope failures. 

Mosquito Creek Hazard Land and Regulations Mapping Public Open House
Rideauview Community Centre
4310 Shoreline Drive, Ottawa
Tuesday, June 28, 2022
4:30 to 8:00 p.m.

For those unable to attend the open house, mapping can also be seen online at www.rvca.ca/mosquito-creek. Individual or small group meetings (on-line or in-person) can also be booked by contacting an RVCA Resource Specialist at  or by completing an online property inquiry form at www.rvca.ca/regulations-planning/general-property-inquiries. 

The public consultation period will run until July 29, 2022.

This study is being done through a collaboration involving the City of Ottawa and the Rideau Valley, Mississippi Valley and South Nation Conservation Authorities. The City recognized a need to update its zoning schedules based on up-to-date hazard mapping and has provided contributions enabling the Conservation Authorities to move ahead with these studies sooner than would otherwise be possible. The RVCA is currently working on several studies in the Ottawa area. For a complete list of ongoing work, please visit www.rvca.ca.

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RIDEAU VALLEY, June 1, 2022 – No cell service? No problem! Visitors to RVCA’s conservation areas can now navigate even our most remote trails with confidence thanks to a new partnership with Avenza Maps. 

The Toronto-based mobile app offers GPS-enabled maps that can be used offline and without cell service to keep your bearings even in the deepest woods. 

“Safety is number one, and this is an innovative tool to help our visitors stay on track while exploring our beautiful properties,” said Conservation Lands Manager Chelsey Ellis. “We’re pleased to partner with such an ambitious and community-oriented organization.”

Tristan Lyttle, senior product manager with Avenza Systems Inc., agreed.

“We’re thrilled to see our local conservation authorities become early adopters of this technology,” Lyttle said. “Getting outside and exploring our surroundings has never been more important, and Avenza makes it even easier.” 

The app is supported by Android and iOS. Instructions on how to get started and use the mobile app can be found at https://www.avenzamaps.com/maps/how-it-works.html. QR codes for the RVCA’s new Avenza maps have been installed at the trailheads of eight conservation areas, and can also be found on their property-specific webpages at www.rvca.ca/conservation-areas. Scanning these QR codes will download RVCA’s maps to your phone to take out onto the trail. Ifyou don't have Avenza Maps app, you will be guided through the installation process

To avoid installation issues, the RVCA encourages visitors to download the free app before leaving home. Traditional trailhead maps and printed brochures will continue to be available, as well as downloadable PDF maps on the RVCA website. 

The RVCA offers a total of 42 km of trails through forests, wetlands, meadows and more. From the Chapman Mills boardwalk in Barrhaven to the Spy Rock lookout at Foley Mountain, our 11 conservation areas offer something for everyone, all year round.

For more information visit www.rvca.ca/conservation-areas or contact Conservation Lands Manager Chelsey Ellis at .

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