Protecting Kidston Lake
To: Mayor Savage and Councilors c.c.: Kelly Denty, Executive Director, Planning & Development Shannon Miedema, Energy & Environment Program Manager
From: Spryfield Community Association Date: September 17, 2021, Re: Protecting Kidston Lake
Spryfield Community Association is increasingly concerned about the fate of Kidston Lake. Each summer we hear about lakes in HRM that develop blooms of cyanobacteria, which have health impacts on humans and which have been known to kill pet dogs. Kidston Lake, on the other hand, is currently a pristine, oligotrophic natural lake.
We would like to see the watershed of Kidston Lake protected from the development of housing and other buildings. In this way, fertilizer from lawns and gardens would not leach into the lake, thereby eliminating the risk of algal blooms. Runoff from pet waste would also be reduced.
Kidston Lake is a small, headwater lake. The lake’s watershed is remarkably small and no permanent streams enter the lake. The entire watershed could be protected from development with relatively little loss of potentially developable land. The watershed deserves to be mapped accurately and, as a first step towards protecting it, we request that the city provide an accurate watershed map based on LIDAR imaging. Volunteers with SCA could ground-truth the map to ensure its accuracy.
We feel some urgency in this matter so that protection of the lake occurs before lands in that general area are released for development.
The natural resource provided by pristine lakes has been largely lost throughout HRM as a result of development within their watersheds. In the case of Kidston Lake, we have an unusual opportunity because the watershed is so small and because it is a headwater lake. How fine it would be to have Kidston Lake for swimming and various water activities, an attraction in Spryfield for diverse residents from various neighbourhoods when other lakes are closed.
Yours truly,
Marjorie Willison, Board Co-Chair
Spryfield Community Association, 15 Sussex Street, Halifax, NS B3R 1N8