The Township of Lake of Bays is supporting a community-led project to monitor chloride levels in local waterways as part of its Environmental Projects Grant Program.
Friends of the Muskoka Watershed has been awarded funding through the program’s Watershed Fund to monitor and assess chloride levels in the Oxtongue and Boyne Rivers, which flow into Lake of Bays.
“Volunteers are being trained to use chloride test kits to collect data that will support education, awareness, and stewardship efforts across the community,” said David Zilkey, Climate Action Strategist, Township of Lake of Bays. “Chloride, a component of road salt, is especially harmful to aquatic life in Muskoka’s soft-water lakes.”
While the Township uses a very low-salt sand mix on the roads it maintains, road salt use varies across the broader network of private lands, municipal and provincial roads surrounding Lake of Bays. This project will help improve understanding of how chloride moves through the watershed.
