The Water and Planning Manager for the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority explains one of the responsibilities of conservation authorities is developing policies and procedures that help them respond to extreme water levels in the Great Lakes.
Alec Scott says levels in Lake Huron have come up about one metre since January of 2012, but before that we had about fifteen years of below average water levels. Scott explains with higher levels, people are losing part of the beach, and in some cases in heavy storms, the waves are now hitting the toe of the bluff which creates more eorosion. Scott says we can expect to see the kind of erosion that was prevalent in the 1980s when erosion at the toe of the bluff was an issue.
Owners of shoreline properties should monitor the condition of the bluff very closely but also keep in mind whatever they do to reduce erosion on their property is going to have some impact on their neighbours, so the problem is not going to be solved by acting in isolation.
Natural processes along the shoreline don't recognize property boundaries but extend for kilometres along the length of the shoreline. Scott adds anyone planning a project on the shoreline has to get a permit from the conservation authority.
