Etobicoke Creek Watershed Plan

2024-2034

An aerial view of Heart Lake in Brampton with surrounding development visible.

Etobicoke Creek Watershed Plan (2024-2034)

The Etobicoke Creek Watershed Plan (ECWP) 2024-2034 was approved by TRCA’s Board of Directors on November 22, 2024, and implementation of the watershed plan will now begin.

Prior to approval by TRCA’s Board of Directors, the ECWP was adopted / endorsed by partner municipalities within the watershed - including the City of Toronto, Region of Peel, City of Mississauga, City of Brampton, and Town of Caledon.

Please visit the  ECWP webpage  for more information about the ECWP and its implementation. 

Watershed Vision

Etobicoke Creek watershed is protected and restored to a cleaner, healthier, and more natural state, to sustain its waterways, ecosystems, and human communities.



Engagement

View of masked public interacting with masked TRCA staff at watershed planning information booths inside a community centre meeting room.

Open House on Watershed Plan, May 2022 (Mississauga)

The development of this watershed plan has been a multi-year, collaborative effort between:

  • Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA),
  • Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation,
  • Greater Toronto Airports Authority,
  • City of Toronto,
  • Region of Peel,
  • City of Mississauga,
  • City of Brampton, and
  • Town of Caledon.

The municipal staff members on the Steering Committee were responsible for providing input and guidance throughout the development of the watershed plan on behalf of their respective municipalities (including consolidating comments from various municipal teams). Credit Valley Conservation was also involved in the Steering Committee for the watershed plan to ensure consistency in watershed planning approaches between neighbouring watersheds.

Throughout this process, First Nations and Indigenous communities as well as stakeholders, residents, and the general public were engaged to increase awareness of watershed planning and solicit feedback on the components of the watershed plan.

Engagement Summary reports were prepared throughout the watershed planning process and provide details of the engagement activities (see  project webpage ).


Map Viewer

Explore your watershed!

The mapping tool below provides the opportunity to navigate through various mapping layers from the ECWP. This includes watershed and subwatershed boundaries, Flood Vulnerable Clusters, monitoring stations, potential future management scenarios, Greenbelt Plan areas, and some of the mapping layers from the ECWP maps (Section 7 Maps).

Tips for using the Map Viewer:

  • Use the list on the right-hand side to toggle through the different layers by clicking on the eye icon next to each item.
  • Each layer is described in the legend on the left.
  • This tool is best viewed on a desktop or laptop computer.

TRCA’s Natural Heritage System and Water Resource System mapping is intended to be a science-based information and  screening tool focused on features and areas that are important for ecological and hydrological functions. It is not intended to disrupt or prohibit existing permitted uses or to change current decision-making processes in place.

Watershed Characterization - Existing Watershed Conditions

Watershed characterization is important for understanding the existing conditions (data collected from 2011-2020) of the watershed and for comparing trends since the last watershed plan (data collected from 2002-2010).

TRCA produced a Watershed Characterization Report (June 2021) to document the current state of the watershed and trends over the previous 20 years. The full report can be accessed here:

Based on the results of the technical assessments conducted as part of watershed characterization, there are four key issues in Etobicoke Creek:

  1. WRS: Aquatic Habitat Conditions are 'Poor'
    1. High amount of runoff and in-stream barriers
  2. NHS and Urban Forest: Terrestrial Habitat Quality is generally 'Poor'
    1. Low amount of natural cover
    2. High vulnerability of remaining natural cover to the effects of climate change
  3. Water Quality: Surface Water Quality is 'Poor'
    1. Generally poor surface water quality compared to other TRCA watersheds
  4. Natural Hazards: Flood Vulnerability and Erosion Sensitivity
    1. Presence of six Flood Vulnerable Clusters
    2. Total area of 508 hectares at risk of flooding
    3. Categorized as having medium or high erosion sensitivity

Future Management Scenario Analysis - Future Watershed Conditions

An effective way to assess how a watershed will respond to potential future change is to develop, analyze, and compare several possible future management scenarios, each reflecting a different composition of land uses and mitigation measures. As a result, future management scenario analysis is a tool to compare how possible future land uses might affect watershed health.  

Four potential future management scenarios were assessed to understand the impacts of different levels of land uses, climate changes (where possible), and watershed enhancements (e.g. improvements to natural cover, urban forest canopy, and stormwater management) on watershed health.

These potential future management scenarios helped determine how the watershed may respond to potential future land use and climate changes (i.e., will conditions improve, stay the same, or deteriorate). Scenario analysis does not result in decisions about the type and configuration of land uses. Instead, scenario analysis helps to inform municipal planning decisions including land use and infrastructure planning decisions.  

The scenario analysis results highlighted that, with changing land uses and climate, all four watershed components (WRS, NHS and Urban Forest, Water Quality, and Natural Hazards) are negatively impacted, which affects overall watershed health. However, the watershed enhancements help mitigate these impacts and contribute to a safer, healthier, and more resilient watershed.

The year 2019 was used as the baseline for scenario analysis due to the availability of data sets. Scenario 1 is compared to current conditions, while Scenarios 2, 3, and 4 are compared to Scenario 1. This is to compare and assess the relative benefits of the different levels of enhancements in Scenarios 2, 3, and 4 against the minimal enhancements in Scenario 1.

TRCA produced a Future Management Scenario Analysis Report (July 2022) to analyze the impacts of potential future conditions on watershed health. A summary has been provided below and the full report can be accessed here:

Implementation Planning - Management Framework

In the implementation planning stage, a realistic and achievable management framework was developed outlining the necessary actions to protect, enhance, and restore the health of the watershed and build resiliency to land use and climate changes. Improving the health of the Etobicoke Creek watershed will have many co-benefits such as providing ecosystem services and improving community health and well-being.

Overview of ECWP Management Framework

The ECWP management framework includes three goals, eight objectives, 10 indicators, and 36 management actions. The management framework (including the management actions) was developed collaboratively by TRCA, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, and our partner municipalities. It is based on the results from the characterization and future management scenarios stages, and on engagement feedback.

The management framework is designed to address existing watershed issues and mitigate impacts from potential future land uses and climate changes at the watershed scale.

Additional detailed site-level investigations and technical studies will be required (as appropriate and as part of subwatershed planning, environmental assessments, development and planning applications/approvals, etc.). Further studies will provide local/site level information to help inform and assess the suitability for implementation of some of the management actions (e.g. stormwater controls and the use of low impact development and green infrastructure techniques).

The management framework is focused on: 

  • Achieving more sustainable land use and infrastructure development patterns through the use of low impact development and green infrastructure, improved stormwater management, mitigating flood and erosion risk, and improving rural land stewardship. 

  • Protecting, enhancing, and restoring the Water Resource System and improving aquatic habitat connectivity. 

  • Protecting, enhancing, and restoring the Natural Heritage System and increasing urban forest cover.  

Each of the management goals is equally important to fully realize the vision for the Etobicoke Creek watershed. The majority of the maps located within Section 7 of the ECWP have been included in the  Map Viewer . The remaining maps (ECWP Maps 3A, 3B and 7) are included below. The goals, objectives, and indicators of the management framework are outlined below.

Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation

Implementation, Tracking and Reporting of the ECWP

ECWP 2024-2034 was approved by TRCA’s Board of Directors on November 22, 2024, and implementation of the watershed plan has now begun. Prior to approval by TRCA’s Board of Directors, the ECWP was adopted / endorsed by partner municipalities within the watershed - including the City of Toronto, Region of Peel, City of Mississauga, City of Brampton, and Town of Caledon.

The ECWP will be in effect for 10 years from 2024 to 2034. A comprehensive, coordinated, and collaborative approach to implementing, tracking, and reporting on all aspects of the watershed plan will be essential to fully realize the vision for the watershed.

An Implementation Steering Committee consisting of TRCA, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, and our partner municipalities will be established in 2025 to guide and support implementation and will be facilitated by TRCA. We will work together to achieve the shared commitments outlined in the plan and to demonstrate accountability towards improving watershed health and building safer communities. 

TRCA and our partner municipalities (along with a few other stakeholders) will play key roles in the implementation of the management actions. Although the ECWP will not make land use and infrastructure planning decisions, it is intended to inform municipal initiatives and processes. Many of the management actions will be implemented through municipal plans, processes, guidelines, and strategies such as Official Plans, Secondary Plans, zoning by-laws, subwatershed studies, stormwater master planning and stormwater control measures, best management practices, and urban forest and climate change strategies.

The Implementation Steering Committee will also establish mechanisms to continue to receive input from First Nations and Indigenous communities and from watershed stakeholders, residents, and the public. The Implementation Steering Committee will provide updates on implementation progress and ways to participate and engage more directly in various implementation activities.

As part of the implementation of this watershed plan, TRCA and its partners, will continue to conduct annual reporting on watershed health and plan implementation progress. Reporting through TRCA’s  Watershed and Ecosystems Reporting Hub  will track watershed health trends through the inventory/monitoring discussed below and the indicators identified in the management framework. 

Some components of the watershed plan may not be reported on annually (e.g. aquatic and terrestrial), since stations are not inventoried/monitored annually. 

Through the implementation of the ECWP, all watershed partners and stakeholders can contribute to a healthier, more sustainable, and more resilient watershed that can provide long-term benefits to all residents.

Etobicoke Creek Watershed Plan: Monitoring Stations NOTE: Inventory locations are not shown on this map as they will be determined on a yearly basis based on where data updates are required.

Inventory and Monitoring is essential for the successful execution of the watershed plan. It allows us to assess how the conditions in the watershed are changing over time and keep track of whether the plan's management goals/objectives are being met. Inventory, monitoring, and research helps us understand which management actions are effective in maintaining or improving conditions and provides insights on any necessary adjustments if conditions worsen. Visit TRCA's  Ecosystem Monitoring and Research webpage  for more information on monitoring work at TRCA.

The ECWP includes an inventory, monitoring and research program designed to evaluate both the overall health of the watershed and specific indicators related to the plan's objectives. The monitoring stations are categorized based on the aspects they monitor, and this map identifies their locations (you can also view these monitoring stations under the Map Viewer tab).

Evaluation of watershed health by TRCA, in collaboration with our partner municipalities, will occur to determine if the management actions are achieving the plan's objectives.

Adaptive Management Cycle

Adaptive management is a systematic process for continually improving practices by learning and applying updated knowledge to improve plan implementation. In the context of this watershed plan, adaptive management, in conjunction with inventory, monitoring, and research programs, may lead to refinements of the management framework, or the number of monitoring stations, throughout the life of this watershed plan. For example, if water quality continues to deteriorate, management actions may need to be modified to focus on this particular issue.

Questions?

If you have any questions about the Etobicoke Creek Watershed Plan or its implementation, please email us at   etobicoke@trca.ca 

TRCA

trca.ca

Open House on Watershed Plan, May 2022 (Mississauga)

Overview of ECWP Management Framework

Etobicoke Creek Watershed Plan: Monitoring Stations NOTE: Inventory locations are not shown on this map as they will be determined on a yearly basis based on where data updates are required.

Adaptive Management Cycle