Don Slagged as Ontario's Worst River

The Ottawa Citizen published a special report this past weekend on the state of Ontario rivers (reprinted on the Ottawa Riverkeeper's website). Included was a report that labels the Don River as Ontario's worst river. It scored 34.8 out of 100 on a water quality scale, the lowest in Ontario (as a comparison, the Rideau River received a "fair" rating of 74.2). The article is rife with quotes from local Don experts who all agree the river has gone to hell in a handbasket. Problems such as urbanization and sewage overflow from antique sewer systems are cited as major problems.

Of course the Ottawa River is nothing to write home about. Communities along that river still dump treated sewage into the river and they have a problem with combined sewer overflows just like the Don. Surprisingly many communities also rely on the river as a drinking water source (nobody I know still drinks from the Don :( ).

There were two additional articles in the special report, "Grave Waters", and "What's Not Measured". Both articles touch on the major issues affecting many southern Ontario rivers, namely stresses from agricultural and urban runoff are heavily impacting water quality everywhere.