The Bluebelt: a Vision for…

The Bluebelt: a Vision for Huronia, to Protect the Cleanest Water on Earth

We respectfully request that you conserve and protect the tract of land known collectively as Huronia. Only 90 minutes north of Toronto, scientific studies in recent years have shown that the groundwaters of this area are arguably the cleanest waters on Earth. World-class scientists marvel at their remarkable purity, and are currently working to unravel the intricate processes that led to their creation. As these scientific studies get underway, the integrity of the waters is being threatened by land use changes such as the rapid acceleration of aggregate extraction. These waters represent the “gold standard” of water quality, and the “crown jewels” of our provincial water resources. These priceless assets must be preserved for future generations, before they are destroyed even before investigators have had a chance to understand the processes that have created them.

This region is connected to the current Greenbelt by the Laurentian Trough, a deep valley running from Georgian Bay to Toronto, and filled with layers of sediment up to 150 m thick. The area is bounded by Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching to the east, Georgian Bay to the north and west, and Elmvale to the south. The forested slopes and upland areas represent zones of groundwater recharge that feed area springs, wells, rivers and wetlands: left behind by the glaciers, these enormous hills of coarser-grained sediment are the water towers where filtration begins. The lowlands, covered by finer-grained lake sediments, are the areas of groundwater discharge: left behind by glacial lake Algonquin, these rich, moist soils support some of the best farmlands in the province.

Known as Wendake to the Wendat (Huron) people who occupied this peninsula at the time of European contact, the abundant springs were so important to their villages that at least one of them was named in their honour (Ekhiondastsaan - “the lands which exude water”). These exceptional waters have served as the drinking water supply to 30 indigenous communities in the area for centuries, if not millenia. The Wendat were farmers, growing corn, squash, and beans: this area, therefore, also represents the birthplace of agriculture in Canada. The first European settlement in Ontario, Ste. Marie Among the Huron, was built here in 1639. Taken together, this area represents a magnificent “Kulturlandschaft”, to use a Swiss term, a cultural landscape where a balance is sought between Man and Nature, in a region of tremendous historical significance. If the current pandemic has taught us anything, it is the value of natural areas for our physical and mental well being.

As climate change accelerates, our water resources will be affected in ways that are poorly understood and difficult to predict. Protecting and preserving our farmlands, forests, and wetlands in Huronia is the best way to ensure a reliable supply of drinking water in this region. Once our natural areas are replaced with asphalt, concrete, glass and steel, or their environs altered to provide the raw materials for development, there will not only be an aesthetic destruction of the landscape, which directly impacts our mental health, but our water filters and water reservoirs will be lost as well.

Land use change based on economically driven growth must be framed within the context of protecting a truly magnificent natural resource; one unique to Canada. The cost of losing these pristine waters based on a “growth only” model of economic development will facilitate permanent changes that cannot be reversed. The chance to understand the natural processes responsible for this pure water will also be lost; with this loss, the opportunity to improve our capacity to implement new levels of resource protection will be gone, along with the natural analog responsible for producing the cleanest water yet identified. Water is our single most important natural resource, and water of this quality is extremely rare. In contrast, aggregate is abundant throughout the province, and can easily be sourced from much less sensitive areas.

The landscape of this region, endowed with the cleanest water on earth, with a mix of forests and farmlands, gentle streams, provincially significant wetlands, and closely-knit rural communities, represents a tremendous opportunity for the Province of Ontario. By creating a Bluebelt with its direct hydrological connection to the Greenbelt, the citizens of Ontario will have a world-class example of real source water protection.

The most visible contemporary illustration of the importance of this water is found at the Elmvale Water Kiosk, a roadside artesian spring just north of that village, on County Road 27. Hundreds of visitors stop here every day, perhaps thousands per day during summer, many having travelled considerable distances, to collect the pure spring water. If they remain intact, the farms and forests on the hills of Huronia offer the promise of pure spring water forever. Forever is a long time.

P.S. a very, very approximate location map is attached