RED ROCK — Nipigon Bay could soon be removed from a list of areas along the Great Lakes where pollution is a cause for concern.
The general public is invited Thursday to the Red Rock marina building for an open house focusing on the many restoration actions taken to reach the point of delisting Nipigon Bay as an area of concern.
“The goal is to present our case for the delisting and celebrate a lot of the really great work that’s happened over the past 30 to 40 years,” said Tim Hollinger, coordinator of the north shore of Lake Superior remedial action plan.
“There’s been a lot of work done by the public advisory committee, the local community, local stakeholders (and) government agencies. And so tonight is really to present a good amount of that work and hear from the public (on) what they think of the potential delisting.”
The area was designated as one of 43 areas along the Great Lakes that were environmentally impaired by municipal and industrial wastewater, hydroelectric dams and debris from historical logging activities since the late 1980s.
Starting at 6 p.m., guests will have the opportunity to meet and discuss the health of Nipigon Bay before a Zoom session at 6:45 p.m., where local members of the advisory committee and government agencies will join for two presentations.
Hollinger will be the speaker for the first presentation, which will outline the actions that have been completed to reach the point of delisting the area of concern. Julia Hatcher, a program officer and the Canada Water Agency for Lake Superior’s Lake Wide Management program lead, will conduct the next presentation.
Since 2015, Hollinger said they’ve been waiting on the final finishing touches of their restoration actions — the final one being the upgrades to the Red Rock Waste Water Treatment Plant, which finished in 2021/2022.
It was at this time that the community advisory committee, along with government scientists, agencies and the program’s office at Lakehead University, he explained, concluded that the area was restored and met their restoration targets.
Since then, Hollinger said they’ve begun re-engaging the local community on the potential delisting of the area of concern.
“The remedial action plan program has been operating in Nipigon Bay here since 1987 and since 2015, the area of concern has reached a point where we feel the designation of an environmental sort of hotspot as an area of concern is no longer applicable to this area,” said Hollinger.
He said it’ll be a big celebration for the community to have that designation as one of the 43 Great Lakes areas of concern removed.
It is quite a big deal, he added, they want to hear from the public tonight how they feel.
“In the past, it’s received very positive support from the broader community,” said Hollinger.
“So, this is just one more chance for the community to ask any questions they may have related to this area of concern program here at Nipigon Bay.”
The public advisory committee is historically made up of a number of local community members, he said, with representatives from industry, local municipal governments and Indigenous communities from across the North Shore of Lake Superior.
“We can expect all of those folks to be in attendance tonight to come together and review the delisting of the areas concerned,” said Hollinger.
