The Detroit River Canadian Cleanup will host a public consultation open house on Thursday, October 5th, 2023, from 6:30-9:00pm at the Ojibway Nature Centre to share information on environmental improvements to the Detroit River.

The Detroit River is a culturally and economically significant waterway connecting Windsor and Detroit. It serves as the busiest international crossing point in North America. Given its extensive use, it has been subject to a lot of pollution over the decades, and in 1987 was identified as an Area of Concern under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between Canadian and American federal governments.

The Detroit River Canadian Cleanup was established in 1998 to clean up and restore the Detroit River. As an Area of Concern, 14 beneficial use impairments were identified to measure the impacts that poor water quality has on human health, the economy, and the environment.

To date, due to the efforts of many to clean up and restore the river, 10 of these beneficial uses have been redesignated as ‘not impaired’. After significant scientific studies, Remedial Action Plan partners are proposing to redesignate both the fish portion of Degraded Fish and Wildlife and the entirety of Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproductive Problems from ‘impaired’ to ‘not impaired.’

“Redesignating these beneficial uses of the river is a significant achievement toward removing the Detroit River as an Area of Concern,” says Sarah Lanoue, Detroit River Remedial Action Plan Acting Coordinator.

“This open house will feature presentations from scientists who worked on the beneficial use impairments and give participants a chance to ask questions and learn more about the three-decade effort to restore the Detroit River the health.”

The event will be hybrid at Ojibway Nature Centre and over Zoom. Participants can register by going to this website http://detroitriver.ca/bui-3-fish-populations-and-bui-5-redesignation-open-house/ or by contacting Sarah Lanoue at lanoue@detroitriver.ca.

The Detroit River Canadian Cleanup implements the Remedial Action Plan on behalf of a community-based partnership working together to protect, restore and enhance the Detroit River ecosystem.