Protecting the Future of Our Lake Chain
The Lake Kashagawigamog Organization (LKO) established the Water Quality and Development Committee in 2023 with a clear mandate: to address growing concerns about water quality across our lake chain and to identify solutions that will help protect and improve it for future generations.
In 2024, LKO conducted a resident survey that reinforced just how important this issue is to our community. Water quality ranked as the number one concern among respondents. Notably, 95% of participants expressed strong concern about the state of our waters, and 70% rated current water quality as only “fair.” These results highlight a shared recognition that action is needed.
LKO’s policy has always been to support development initiatives that do not negatively impact water quality—and ideally, those that result in a net improvement over current conditions. It is through this lens that we are carefully reviewing the proposed expansion of the local sewage treatment plant and the development it is intended to support.
At present, the sewage treatment plant processes approximately 320 million litres of effluent annually. The proposed plan would increase this volume by 50%, with all additional output ultimately entering our lake chain. There are several planned developments in Haliburton that would link into this upgrade. Given the scale of this increase, we believe it is critical to fully understand the potential environmental implications.
We are particularly concerned that the expansion may be moving forward without sufficient due diligence, especially in light of the lake system’s known sensitivity. An Environmental Study conducted in 1994 in relation to the existing sewage treatment plant already identified the fragile nature of our water quality. LKO is working with CLPOA (Canning Lake Property Owners Association), with efforts resulting in an upgraded treatment system than initially proposed by the township. This context makes it essential that any new decisions are guided by thorough, up-to-date environmental assessments.
The LKO Water Quality and Development Committee has reached out to Town staff to share these concerns and seek clarification. We received a response that the municipality is seeking an exemption for no environmental assessment or impact study on our lakes. We remain committed to keeping our community informed as more information becomes available.
Protecting our lake chain is a shared responsibility, CLPOA has joined the LKO committee to support the ongoing efforts. We will continue to advocate for careful, science-based decision-making to ensure the long-term health of our waters.