Your Answers to the water levels

[BradHodkinson]

i copied this from another forum that i wrote this for

As im not a good person to write stuff i did my best at the time to write the following a few years ago, People can guess and listen to what ever group they wish but i would bet my life on it they havnt a clue on it if they havent been around to see the actual effects that have happened with thier own eyes

I hope this post works as i had to take the time to redo it for some unreal reason

As i stated i was asked to join this forum to give some light on the Maitland River Watershed as i have fished it for more the 45 years and i have gone out of my way to bring light to some Politicans and other political groups on what has and is happening over the years to the levels of water in our rivers not just the Maitland but i use it the most as i know it the best.
I wont go back to the 1960s as i can only recollect me being a young lad who was more of a hinderence to his father when we went fishing and that was many days in the spring and fall on the Maitland so i will start in the 1970s

To start off i will use the winter as a starting point
early 1970s: After the winter snows started to thaw and the early spring rains started the Maitland would jam up with ice in the bottom end of the river building up huge ice and the water would back up for miles upon miles,I have seen the water backed up so that the house across from Ben Miller Inn was in jepordy of flooding,During the eary 1970s it wasnt unusal at the ice out stage for the Maitland to be UNFISHABLE for 3-4 weeks when this happened in the spring,During the coarse of the year the water levels would hold their own and very seldom did we see river bottom dry anywheres like we see today a good example would be the Falls Reserve there was always water flowing all of the way across,Today we see it dry most of the summer with just the main shoot having flow year round.

late 1970s: There were lots of natural swails and cold springs all over the watershed which helped with the continued feeding of the main river and you could walk pretty much any stretch of the river and find holding places that had young of the year PARR/SMOLTS in very good numbers it was a hay day for fly fishing to say the least lots of 1 year old fish as there was no need to escape a haven like it was

early 1980s: Here is where things started to go bad and i know from experince as i worked for a reknowned Farm Drainage company ( I wont use their name ).
The 4 inch perferated plastic tile started to replace the old clay baked tile at an astounding rate on every farm,The 4 inch perferated tile was designed to drain water in fields at a rate of 100 foot intevals meaning for every run of tile it would drain the land 50 feet each way plus it would suck water upwards from below it creating a huge WET VACCUM EFFECT.
The more fields that were being tiled the less water getting back to the ground water source ( TABLE ),Farmers were given subsides to tile their fields and more and more farmers took this route,The swales started to dry up the fields ( Crops ) had their good times and bad times, Then in the early 1980s someone came up with the idea that the hills in the fields should be tiled and guess what thats exactly what happened, As i saw with my own eyes as i stated i worked for a drainage company i went to a seminar and it was at a farm that was hilly and they started to tile it with the 4 inch perferated tile and as fast as they were plowing the tile in the water was running in the tiles ( One of Farmers and Political Mistakes ).
So now never mind tiling land that was flat or low they were tiling hillsides,Somewhere in the Mid to late 1980s someone got the Idea again that if the 4 inch perferated tile drained 100 foot intervals that good it would be better to tile every 50 feet instead thus draining the water at twice the rate as before which was a huge mistake to the future of our water, That brings me to where the biggest changes in the Maitland river watershed happened, The cold creeks started to get warmer and mosses started to grow which was caused by nitrates from fertizers from the fields, The small feeder creeks were the first to get hit and then the Main river started to show more and more moss growing yearly,Yes there was small amouts of green moss before this but it was small amounts not like what we see today, Today we see brown and a purplish colored moss I will give you 2 guesses where it comes from and the 1st one doesnt count.
As you have read this and if you remember correctly i mentioned WET VACCUM well it only gets worse,During the 1990s some farmers started to have their fields tiled at 25 feet intervals BIGGER Machinery the land needs to be drier faster so now we have a perferated 4 inch tile that was designed to be prolific and was prolific at draining at 100 foot intervals now draining at 25 foot intervals for those that need help with the math here is what it looks like
100 foot intervals each tile drains 50 feet each way out from it
50 foot intervals each tile drains 25 feet each way out from it
25 foot intervals each tile drains 12 and a half feet each way out of it
At 25 foot intervals the water is being sucked out of the ground at 4 times the rate as the ORIGINAL PERFERATED TILE WAS DESIGNED TO DRAIN and the tile hasnt changed any as far as design goes.

So as far as the water levels and how fast the river would clear up after ice outs and good rains over the years has changed our watersheds in Southwestern Ontario and every other area that is tiled to the hilt,Just going back 25 years ago which isnt realy that long ago a GOOD rain after ice out it would take the river somewhere from a week to 2 weeks to go up and return back to where it was, 15 years ago you would look at 3-4 days up and 3-4 days back down, today a good rain which we got several of them over the summer on the Maitland watershed the river barely colored up and for the most part didnt do nuch as far as going up,Yes there is more water in the Maitland river this year then last year at this time of year but after 14 inches of rain before HURRICANE IKE dumped a load on us it should be up several inches over last year.

Writing this out for the second time i can reflect back to the early 1990s and an older gentleman i was fortunate enough to have fished with for many years told me back then that in 20 years the Maitland River would be a warm water stream at best and most likely would be dry rock bottom. In 20 years plus since he told me that he wasnt far off from what i have wittnessed as last year and this is from some of the old timers whom i have talked to stated the same the river was never so low as last year.
Global Warming is also to blame but we must remember water is a natural coolent and when theres no water it gets hotter,If you dig down in a desert deep enough you will hit water somewhere,But to continue to have fields tiled and adding to the WET VACCUM SYSTEM dont expect MOTHER NATURE TO EVER REPAIR WHAT MAN HAS DEMIZED

I hope this brings some light to this thread and i also hope that after you read it you take the time to reflect on what you read and make it known to whom ever so it will make more people think about what was and what isnt anymore.

[JackFrank]

Very well written Brad.

[Elias Sprenger]

Yes, it's the painful truth. It just sucks that much more when you can't do anything about it. Thanks for taking the time Brad, sharing solid info like that and increased awareness can only help. The only part of what you wrote that I take issue with is the end of the second last sentence. Mother nature will repair what humans have demized... IF WE LET IT. The problem is we just don't stop destroying it. As humans we think we are the be all and end all but the truth is mother nature is so much bigger then us, it's not even a comparison. If humans suddenly ceased to exist, we'd be astounded at how fast nature would take care of itself and return to a state of balance.

Elias.

[BobMoss]

I fine it ironic that famers are always compailining how dry things are while at the same time they are tiling their feild removing what water is left in the soil and draining the wet areas around their feilds to get more area to plant crops.
What gives?????

Bob

[Josh Roelofsen]

I chatted with an older gentlemen yesterday, he was 82 and remembered regularly taking a 12' aluminum from 31 (Varna bridge) to Bayfield........He also recounted catching decent numbers spring Walleye and fall Whitefish in the deep holes around Wildwood park...!...?...!...?

[Michael Hahn]

Great insight from the voice of experience. Thank you very much.

[BrianMcCord]

Brad obviously cares a great deal.

Thanks for taking the time Sir.

DuFf

[John Williams]

Brad thanks for sharing this information with us, very interesting and informative read. Greatly appreciated.

[BradHodkinson]

Originally posted by BrianMcCord
Brad obviously cares a great deal.

Thanks for taking the time Sir.

DuFf

Thanks Duff its not so much i care, i believe and im sick and tired of reading and hearing the rains will fix the problem it could rain for 40 days and 40 nights straight and within a week the water levels might get back to normal for a short period of time. Rain is only a band-aid at best