Environment

Water Rangers is a non-profit, Ottawa-based organization that provides test kits to groups and individuals to discover data, report issues and record observations of their lakes, streams and rivers. There are many people who care about water quality but do not have access to tools to collect and interpret the data about their own lake, river or stream.

Your BRLA membership fee helps fund annual testing of water quality throughout the Big Rideau by BRLA Water Rangers, a team of seven citizen scientists representing all sectors of the lake. A big thank you to all our Rangers who help deliver our goal to generate consistent baseline testing data across our diverse lake.

The data we gather on the Big Rideau each year is shared with the Water Rangers organization, Rideau Valley Conservation Authority and Data Stream. These databases are accessed by the scientific community as they track water quality across the wider region including the Great Lake Basin.

Water Rangers 2023 Report

Overall, the 2023 data indicates that over a five-year period we are staying within established limits for all our tests which include measures for Alkalinity & pH, water and air temperature, hardness, dissolved oxygen, water clarity and depth. There were a few anomalies and hot spots this season which we will be following up on.

For more details, please explore the attached link which provides additional information and relevant graphs related to the water quality tests

See the report here

For more information on Water Rangers visit

Rideau Lakes Environmental Foundation is a registered charity and partner organization to the BRLA making any contributions eligible for a tax receipt. When you donate to the RLEF it can only be used for these purposes.

Doris Albert headed the BRLA Water Rangers Program from 2018 to 2023 and in 2023 was recognized as a GROAT one of the Greatest Rangers of All Time.

Winner in the historian category: Doris Albert

• With more than 200 observations at 26 locations, Doris Albert of the Big Rideau Lake Association has been testing regularly with the Water Rangers testkit since 2018 (and has been one of our greatest testers since that time!). Even before Doris started testing with us in 2018, however, she and other members of her community were collecting data on Big Rideau Lake: Doris recently shared with us “ice-on” and “ice-off” data her neighbor collected between 1986 and now on O’Mearas Bay!

• One initial insight gleaned from the data is that the amount of time with ice-on has decreased by almost 14 days in the past 40 years. This shows the power of long-term community-based water monitoring. Thank you to Doris and Big Rideau for their long-term dedication to water protection! You can check out Doris’ data here.

Looking to make a meaningful contribution to environmental preservation on the Big Rideau? Sign up to be a Water Ranger. Please reach out via info@bigrideaulakeassociation.com.

Algae and Aquatic Plan Growth on the Big Rideau Lake

Dr. Smol is a world-renowned expert on the environment and climate change having held the position of Canada Research Chair in Environmental Change for the maximum of three 7 year terms (2000-2021). Dr. Smol is an Officer of the Order of Canada and the current Editor of Environmental Reviews. “We study how lake ecosystems change over long time frames in response to multiple environmental stressors.”

Attached is a recently completed study by MSc student Kapillesh Balasubramaniam, a part of Dr Smol’s team at the Queen’s Biology Department. View the report here. The study flags accelerated regional climate warming as a potential contributor to the increase we are seeing in the algae blooms, particularly the dangerous form. The impact of climate change means that we all need to double down on our efforts to address environmental pollution and drive down key metrics below currently established limits.

As concerned citizens of the lake, here are some things in your control that you can do to help prevent further progression:

• Redouble your efforts to control phosphorous & nitrate pollution in all forms.

• No bathing, shampooing, or cleaning marine equipment in the lake.

• Make sure your septic system is working properly. Proactively seek a septic inspection.

• Add shoreline vegetation which can help intercept the movement of nutrients into the lake and decrease erosion.

The Rideau Lakes Environmental Foundation (RLEF) is a small not-for-profit organization associated with the Big Rideau Lake Association and Upper Rideau Lake Association. Over the past few years, RLEF has focused its work on water quality in the Township of Rideau Lakes.

RLEF has supported researchers at Carleton University, Queens’ University, and other organizations. In 2022, RLEF provided a grant to the Fisheries Conservation Foundation, a U. S.-based group that does research in both freshwater and saltwater areas. The grant was a contribution to the last year of a multi- year study. Their recent report to RLEF on the status of the bass population in local lakes included input from both Queen’s University and Carleton University. For more on the details of the study see attached summary HERE or listen to the webinar hosted by the Big Rideau Lake Association.

Creating Climate Change Resilient Shorelands

The BRLA is participating in the Natural Edge Program coordinated by Watersheds Canada. The program has been in place since 2013 and is focused on shoreline preservation. It is well established with a strong training plan and robust funding by the Royal Bank of Canada. Watersheds Canada provides the plan, an app and relevant in-person training for prospective program leaders. The program is focused on building natural areas with local plants NOT a garden and normally covers 2-3 metres along a shoreline with 50 local plants of varying sizes.

The BRLA is looking for:

• 5 volunteers to lead the Watershed program

• 5 volunteer properties to participate in the program. The BRLA pays $400 for each volunteer property in exchange for a positive reference to adopt the program

Looking to make a meaningful contribution to environmental preservation on the Big Rideau? Sign up as a volunteer for the Nature’s Edge Program. Please reach out via info@bigrideaulakeassociation.com.

For more information on Watersheds Canada visit

Protecting the environment has long been a key focus are of the BRLA. While a bit out of date, the following links demonstrate some of the previous work and engagement on issues impacting the environment on and around the Rideau Lake, much of which is still relevant today.

Environment Archive

Invasive Species

https://www.bigrideaulakeassociation.com/invasive-species

Cormorants

https://www.bigrideaulakeassociation.com/cormorants

Well Water Safety

https://www.bigrideaulakeassociation.com/well-water-safety

How the Lake Works – Right now there is a link on the Environment page and on the footer of the webpage.

https://www.bigrideaulakeassociation.com/how-the-lake-works-1