Do You Support Restoration of Swan Lake and Swan Lake Park?
A local group of residents, the Friends of Swan Lake Park, are lobbying Markham Council to support the restoration of Swan Lake and Swan Lake Park. The group wants Council to address poor water quality issues in the Lake, the invasive plant species in Swan Lake Park and to commit to a long term restoration plan for all of the environmental elements in Swan Lake and Swan Lake Park. There is more information on the issues and the group’s recommendations on their website https://friendsofswanlakepark.ca/
Swan Lake Park, 25 Swan Park Road in the Greensborough area of Markham, is located north of 16th Avenue, midway between Markham Road and 9th Line. The Park is home to over 90 species of birds and mammals. The group states that Swan Lake is dying, that fish and plants cannot survive in the murky water, that invasive plant species are overtaking the Park and that the Lake contains bacteria that can be harmful to animals and humans.
The City of Markham currently takes limited measures to attempt to maintain water quality in Swan Lake. These activities include; water quality monitoring, geese control, and signage maintenance. The annual cost for these activities is $45,000. In addition, in 2013 Markham conducted a chemical Phoslock treatment to address very poor water quality at that time. The one-time Phoslock treatment costs approximately $250,000.
Markham Council is being asked to commit to a long term plan for the restoration of the water quality in Swan Lake. Preliminary estimates are that a sustainable plan for restoring and maintaining Swan Lake are in the order of $1.5 – $2.0 million over 20 years, or about $75,000 – $100,000 per year. The cost of restoring the land based elements has not been determined yet.
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