Another important meeting needing citizens’ input.
Tuesday, Feb 10th , Guelph’s Wastewater Treatment Plan is having a Public Information Centre from 5-8pm at the Holiday Inn on Scottsdale Dr.

A study in Charlottesville, Virginia showed that when tree cover dropped 8% between 1976 and 2000, the amount of runoff increased by 19%.
“Cities spend a lot of money installing stormwater management facilities and managing flood control systems. Trees can offset these costs by intercepting rainwater and reducing the amount of runoff that must be managed in the urban area and by stormwater management facilities.”
-GRCA Watershed report ‘Investing in Trees’ by Virginia Gauley, GRCA Forester.

We are expected to have more and heavier storms in our future. But the trees ’sponge and filter’ effects can maintain a more stable volume after hard short rains.  This will be very important for Guelph since the downstream water is needed in stable, regular quantity for the dilution at the wastewater plant. Heavy flow after hard rains is followed by a wave effect of lower than normal volume of river water.

Therefore it is very important to have an Urban Forestry Department working with the Water Departments and a qualified forester supervising the maintenance and protection of our urban forest. We need to mention this since we have no Urban Forestry Department and no forester.