The Remedial Action Plan
A Remedial Action Plan or a “RAP” is an important scientific endeavor that is part of many communities around the Great Lakes. A RAP is the response of government, industry, and the local community to environmental concerns that are believed to impair the use of various resources such as drinking water, fish, and recreation. A RAP is a process to remove the Area of Concern designation by the International Joint Commission (a Canadian-American environmental “watchdog”). In this process, the environmental concerns and various resources are placed into Beneficial Use Impairments that can be monitored and assessed so that ultimately the AOC can be delisted.
For the Bay of Quinte, the RAP process was started after 1985 when it was designated as an Area of Concern. A Stage One report was written in 1990 that defined the environmental conditions and problems. It outlined four ecosystem problem areas: excess nutrients, bacterial contamination, toxins, and loss of fish and wildlife habitat. In 1993, a Stage Two report was completed. This report listed ten Beneficial Use Impairments and made 80 recommendations for remedial actions to address these “BUIs”. It also established delisting criteria (i.e. targets and measures) that need to be met to restore the BUIs.
The Bay of Quinte is currently in Stage Two and has made significant progress since 1993. The next phase in the process is Stage Three. Through the RAP process, the Bay is very close to reaching Stage Three. The RAP is working to complete monitoring to ensure that delisting targets and measures for the ten BUIs have been met and to document the completion of the 80 recommendations for remedial actions. When Stage Three is complete, the Area of Concern is "delisted". The decision to delist an Area is made by the federal, provincial, and local RAP participants, with advice from the International Joint Commission. When an Area is delisted, however, it doesn't mean all the work is done. Continued diligence is essential to ensure that the environmental quality is sustained into the future.
The Delisting Criteria
Delisting criteria include targets and measures of improvement to help us:
• Assess remediation progress each year
• Identify necessary additional actions
• Know when remediation efforts are complete
The Bay of Quinte Remedial Action targets are:
• Stable, healthy and diverse fish, bird, and wildlife populations.
• Restrictions on fish and wildlife consumption are not significantly
influenced by contaminant sources in the Bay.
• Fish tumours and other bird or wildlife deformities in the Bay are not
significantly different than comparable unimpaired areas within the
Great Lakes.
• A positive trend and change in communities of bottom-dwelling creatures
(benthic invertebrates).
• Nutrient inputs managed to result in fewer nuisance algae blooms
and related improvements in water quality.
• Drinking water demonstrates a positive trend in taste and odour with no
restrictions related to toxic compounds.
• Fewer beach closures and acceptable water quality conditions in the Bay
recreational waters.
• Demonstrate a positive improvement in water quality aesthetics
compared to the pre zebra mussel invasion.
• Positive trend in the health of phytoplankton and zooplankton
communities (creatures that form the base of the aquatic food web) and
further, in comparison with unimpaired areas in the Great Lakes.
• Fish and wildlife habitat protected and/or restored to acceptable levels.