Your Role

Protecting the water quality in Lake Scugog

We all must help protect water quality in Lake Scugog.  With climate change including temperature increases and bigger storm events, invasive species and greater development around its shores, the municipality and all of us living around its shorelines and in backlot areas, we must try to do our best on the following items in order to keep it as healthy as we can. This chapter will outline some of the items that you can do to help protect it for the future:

• Maintain existing natural shoreline, including trees and vegetation
• Do not mow the lawn all the way to the water—allow natural vegetation to grow at least 3 meters up from the water
• Plant native shrubs and grasses in your ‘no-mow-zone’ that have deep root systems to help stabilize the ground
• Ensure your septic system is pumped and inspected every 3 years, and upgraded when needed
• Avoid the use of fertilizer on your lawn, and use natural lawn care techniques
• Obtain permits for larger shoreline projects to ensure best practices in design and construction
• Reduce rainwater runoff by installing rain barrels, permeable pavers, or a raingarden.

Find out more about actions you can take and the benefits they provide by downloading the Landowner Guide to Protecting Water Quality in the Kawarthas.

Additional Resources

• Landowner Guide to Protecting Water Quality in the Kawarthas
• A Shoreline Owner’s Guide to Lakeland Living
• The Shore Primer: A cottager’s guide to a healthy waterfront
• The Dock Primer: A cottager’s guide to waterfront-friendly docks
• Beautiful non-invasive plants for your garden
• SERO Growers List
• Solutions for Shoreline Erosion: A Basic Guide to Bioengineering
• Blue-Green Algae: Background, potential impacts to human health and safety of drinking waterand safety of drinking water

Enjoy the diversity you enable!