Loading and lake circulation structures recurrent patterns of water quality on the Toronto – Mississauga waterfront of Lake Ontario
Open accessAbstract
Urban centers line western Lake Ontario where urban rivers, wastewater treatment plants and stormwater load nutrients, major ions and suspended solids to the nearshore. In 2018, nearshore water quality and associated physical conditions bordering the cities of Toronto and Mississauga were assessed as a benchmark for future effects of urban growth and municipal infrastructure projects to improve water quality. Conductivity and UV-fluorescence were used as water quality surrogates and mapped over blocks of shoreline stratified by distance offshore. Patterns in UV-fluorescence aligned with loading points, and generally higher levels near the shoreline, were correlated with concentrations of nutrients, major ions and suspended solids. Water quality was more land-impacted over the shoreline from the Credit River to Humber Bay contrasting with the more lake-like conditions from Toronto Eastern Beaches to the Rouge River. Within Toronto Harbour, cross-harbour gradients in water quality varied with weather-related changes in river and storm water loading. Mixing areas at wastewater treatment plant outfalls and tributary mouths, frequently shaped by alongshore lake circulation, resulted in a mosaic of water quality over the shoreline. Area-wide elevation of chloride and conductivity, and poorer water quality in late spring, was linked to heightened river discharge. Thermal stratification affected how discharges were distributed in the water column, but measurements at the lake surface reflected the strongest overall land-effects on water quality. The patterns of temporal-spatial variability identified within geographically-defined areas of shoreline can be used as past footprints in future monitoring to detect change.
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There is a wastewater treatment plant upstream that empties into Humber Bay.
“There is also a wastewater treatment plant upstream that empties into Humber Bay.39,40”
From Microplastics and Anthropogenic Particles in Recreationally Caught Freshwater Fish from an Urbanized Region of the North American Great Lakes (2024) · cites this paper as [39]
The Area-specific features of water quality section describes discharges from the Humber wastewater treatment plant affecting the west side of Humber Bay. The paper does not establish that the plant is upstream, so that location qualifier is unsupported. (LLM, conf=0.82)
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Howell, E. T., & Benoit, N.
- Affiliations
- Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Howell, E.T.
- Venue
- Journal of Great Lakes Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-04
- Volume
- 47
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 323-342
- ISSN
- 0380-1330 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3102140653
- Cited by
- 16
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 0.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Great Lakes Research (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Aquatic Ecosystems and Phytoplankton Dynamics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Water Quality and Pollution Assessment
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Water Quality and Resources Studies
- Keywords
- Lake Ontario, nearshore water quality, stormwater, wastewater treatment plant outfall, suspended solids, major ions, chloride, conductivity, UV fluorescence, lake circulation, thermal stratification, river discharge, Toronto Harbour, Mississauga, Rouge River, urban growth impacts, water quality monitoring
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