Swan Lake Park in Markham is home to a rich diversity of wildlife. But this wildlife is threatened by the deteriorating water conditions in Swan Lake and the erosion of sustainable terrestrial habitat in Swan Lake Park due to the unchecked intrusion of invasive plants.
The environmental elements in the Park are all interconnected and interdependent on each other. Once water quality gets out of balance, aquatic life and aquatic plants are directly impacted while other elements are negatively affected by the deteriorating aquatic conditions. Our June 2020 report, “Pathway to Sustainability”, details the issues facing Swan Lake and Swan Lake Park.
Markham Council asked staff to report back in 2021 on three important topics: 1) a “Park Improvement” program; 2) the establishment of long term water quality guidelines for Swan Lake; and 3) a long term Fish Management program.
Discussions on Park Improvement are inter-related to water quality objectives. The original objective, set out by the developers and accepted by Markham officials at that time, was for Swan Lake to provide community engagement for water based sports, sports fishing and ice skating. These objectives were never realized and due to the current poor water quality could not be supported today. Only the hardiest of fish species can survive in Swan Lake and due to the presence of cyanobacteria, the water presents a health risk to both humans and small animals.
In July 2020, Markham staff released two reports that provide the technical background on the water quality issues in Swan Lake. The report by Freshwater Research, Markham’s water quality consultant, concludes by recommending a 5 year Phoslock treatment cycle beginning in 2021 and addresses some of the issues associated with other phosphorus treatment options. It does not however provide guidance on what complementary efforts should be undertaken, within the context of an ongoing Phoslock treatment program, to address low oxygen levels and to reduce excessive levels of nitrogen and chloride.
Our report, “A Pathway to Sustainable Water Quality for Swan Lake”, released December 15, 2020, draws upon the information provided in the technical reports issued by Markham, and was created by Friends of Swan Lake Park to facilitate discussion around addressing these other critical issues impacting water quality that need to be addressed if Swan Lake is to be environmentally stabilized. It also provides a framework for a discussion that ties water quality to the broader objectives of the community role of Swan Lake as illustrated in the table below.
Read about Ending Swan Lake’s Stormwater Management Role
Read more about the relationship between water quality and community role
Read more about the four underlying issues with water quality in Swan Lake
Read more about the range of actions available
Read more about the concerns about Phoslock
Read more about our proposed six year action plan