Nipigon Bay: Area of Concern
Nipigon Bay was designated as an Area of Concern (AOC) in 1987 under the Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Pollution from industrial and municipal wastewater, hydro-electric development in Lake Nipigon and Nipigon River, and debris from past logging activities contributed to degraded water quality and ecosystem health. Seven out of 14 beneficial use impairments (BUIs) were identified, which measure the environmental, human health and economic impact of poor water quality. An additional beneficial use was deemed “requiring further assessment”, meaning more information was required to determine whether it was impaired.
Accomplishments
All remedial actions have been completed and all beneficial uses have been restored to not impaired status. As a result, Nipigon Bay is proposed for delisting. An AOC is delisted when monitoring shows that targets for all BUIs have been met and environmental quality has been restored.
Over the past 35 years, there has been significant progress in restoring the water and environmental quality in the AOC. This includes:
- improvements to wastewater treatment for Nipigon and Red Rock, with secondary treatment facilities being introduced in 2012 and 2021 respectively
- improvements to water quality following Red Rock pulp mill’s compliance to federal and provincial regulations in the mid-1990s before the mill closed in 2006
- enhancing fish populations and aquatic habitat – actions include naturalizing river flow near hydroelectric dams; restoring former wetland and historic spawning grounds in the lower Nipigon River; rehabilitating Clearwater Creek; creating habitat at the Red Rock marina; and renaturalizing Kama Creek
Restoration of beneficial uses
Significant progress has been made to improve environmental conditions in the AOC. These beneficial uses are no longer considered “impaired”:
- tainting of fish and wildlife flavor (1995)
- restrictions on dredging activities (1995)
- fish tumours or other deformities (1995)
- degradation of fish and wildlife populations (2016)
- degradation of benthos (2016)
- eutrophication or undesirable algae (2016)
- degradation of aesthetics (2016)
- loss of fish and wildlife habitat (2016)
Recent actions
A Remedial Action Plan Completion Report has been prepared and presented to the community outlining how water quality has improved, fish populations have recovered, fish habitats are enhanced, aesthetics have improved and healthier populations of sediment-dwelling organisms (benthos) have been established.
Remaining actions
Environmental monitoring has confirmed that restoration targets have been achieved and beneficial uses have been restored. The final action is to confirm community support for the delisting of the AOC.
Outlook
Following the completion of Indigenous, public and stakeholder engagement on delisting, we will issue a decision confirming restoration of Nipigon Bay and removing it from the list of Great Lakes AOCs.
Partners
We partner with other levels of government, non-government groups, Indigenous communities and members of the public. This restoration work requires a large amount of scientific and technical expertise, local knowledge, hard work and the help of:
- Biigtigong Nishnaabeg
- EcoSuperior Environmental Programs
- Environment and Climate Change Canada
- Lakehead University
- Métis Nation of Ontario
- Nipigon Bay Remedial Action Plan Public Advisory Committee
- Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks
- Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
- Parks Canada
- Red Rock Indian Band
- Township of Nipigon
- Township of Red Rock