Jock River Reach 2 and Mud Creek Subwatershed Studies

Jock River Reach 2 map [jpeg 83 KB]

The City of Ottawa has initiated two Subwatershed Studies to develop environmental management actions that over the long term will improve the health and condition of the natural environment system of both Jock River Reach 2 and Mud Creek.

The Jock River Reach 2 subwatershed includes all the lands that flow into Flowing Creek, Monahan Drain, Faulkner Drain, and Leamy Creek. The subwatershed includes the villages of Richmond and Fallowfield, the community of Bridlewood, and the south portion of Stittsville.

The Mud Creek subwatershed is a sub-catchment of the Rideau River and is located in the south portion of the City of Ottawa, southwest of the Village of Manotick, in the former townships of Rideau and Nepean.

The Studies will examine the Jock River, Mud Creek and their tributaries, groundwater resources and the aquatic and terrestrial habitats (woodlands, wetlands) within the subwatershed in order to answer the following question for each:

• What is the existing state of the natural environment within the subwatershed?
• What are the significant natural features and linkages within the subwatershed that need to be conserved?
• What are the potential impacts of existing and future land use activities?
• What measures or activities can be implemented to effectively address these impacts?
• What are the opportunities to restore and enhance the natural system and promote compatible uses?

The subwatershed studies will fulfill Phases 1 and 2 of the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment process as a Master Planning document.

Executive summary [PDF 263 KB]

Full report summary [PDF 1.5 MB]

The draft Existing Conditions Report is not available on the website due to the large file size. The report is available for viewing at the Richmond, Manotick and Stittsville branches of the Ottawa Public Library. The report is also available on CD by contacting Nick Stow at 613-580-2424, ext. 13000 or nick.stow@ottawa.ca.

The Jock Reach 2 / Mud Creek Subwatershed Study Existing Conditions Report was completed by Marshall Macklin Monaghan Limited and WESA in 2009. The report details the characteristics of the subwatershed including climate, geology and physiography, as well as ecology, land use, agriculture and water resources. The report was based on several years of study and public consultation. It was released by the City in February 2011. Due to the complexity of the report, a summary has been prepared by the Planning and Growth Management Department of the City. The summary was two parts; one for the Jock River Reach 2 and one for the Mud Creek subwatershed. It has been decided that the subwatershed study will continue to be split into two parallel studies from this point forward for ease of understanding.

The report describes Jock River Reach 2 as having variable surface water quality based upon different sections of the river. The healthier communities were primarily located within the Village of Richmond and likely indicate fewer impacts such as channel straightening and riparian vegetation removal in this section. The river has a mixture of cool, cold and warm water fish. The fish and aquatic insects indicate that Jock River Reach 2 has been impacted by human activities such as agriculture and urbanization.

The results of groundwater monitoring showed that groundwater quality generally has high mineral content and elevated concentrations of iron and total dissolved solids. The groundwater in the subwatershed is of acceptable quality however and meets Ministry of Environment guidelines.

Agriculture is the largest land use in the subwatershed, accounting for more than 1/2 of the land cover. Natural areas are the second largest land use with about 1/3 of the land area in the subwatershed. Natural areas are generally distributed to the edge of the subwatershed. There are few natural areas in the centre region of the subwatershed. The study notes that there are stewardship opportunities that could enhance connections between natural areas. The subwatershed has very few wetlands (<4%) however there are opportunities to enhance habitat areas particularly along the west side of the subwatershed and along riparian areas. Village development is the third largest land use at 7 % coverage. Further development in the watershed will be predominantly within the Village of Richmond.

Subwatershed Plan

In 2012, the City will prepare a subwatershed plan. The subwatershed plan will make recommendations to balance environmental protection, conservation and restoration with development and land-use practices to ensure the long-term health of the watershed.