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Comité ZIP du Sud-de-l'Estuaire fights pollution and coastal erosion with GIS

Farm-animal manure used as agricultural fertilizer can pollute rivers and streams with fecal coliform bacteria. People who drink this polluted water can get typhoid fever, hepatitis A, or gastroenteritis, an inflammation of the stomach and intestines that can cause abdominal cramps, nausea and vomiting, and diarrhea.

Consequently, the Quebec Ministry of the Environment is considering stricter measures on using manure as fertilizer. To prepare for these potential changes, the Comité ZIP du Sud-de-l'Estuaire and the Regional Municipality of Rimouski-Neigette in Quebec decided to map 10 watersheds located either entirely or partially within the municipality. The goal: to identify approximately 200 local animal farms, and to highlight areas that could accommodate manure spreading without jeopardizing local streams and rivers. As well, the organizations wanted to flag any streams and rivers that were polluted, a prerequisite to cleaning them up.

Getting a helping hand

"We had the staff to do this analysis," says Michel Lajoie, Assistant Coordinator of the Comité ZIP du Sud-de-l'Estuaire, "but we didn't have the money to buy the GIS equipment or train our people in using it. That's why we approached GeoConnections for support."

With funding from the Sustainable Communities Initiative of GeoConnections, the Comité ZIP du Sud-de-l'Estuaire purchased a map printer, a global positioning system (GPS), topographic data, and a computer with geographic information systems (GIS) software. The funding also enabled the Comité ZIP du Sud-de-l'Estuaire to teach staff how to use the GIS software.

Project members employed these GIS assets to examine more than 70 creeks and rivers in the 10 watersheds, integrating topographic map data with data collected by the Conseil de bassin de la rivière Rimouski, an organization dedicated to protecting the watersheds that feed the Rimouski River. "The maps we created identified two very polluted creeks and flagged two problematic watersheds," says Mr. Lajoie. "This analysis allows the municipality to see where to focus its resources."

Leveraging the GIS investment

The Comité ZIP du Sud-de-l'Estuaire is 1 of 14 ZIP committees managed by Stratégies Saint-Laurent. Funded in 1989 by Environment Canada and the Quebec Ministry of the Environment, the committees manage and rehabilitate the St. Lawrence River from Saint-François Lake to Blanc-Sablon, including the Magdalen Islands and Chaleurs Bay. (ZIP is a French acronym for priority intervention zone.)

Mr. Lajoie credits GeoConnections with helping his organization fulfill its environmental mandate. "We would probably be two years behind without GeoConnections," he says. "Getting the GIS equipment and training has enabled us to take on several projects."

One such project involved placing markers at various places along the estuary shoreline and taking annual readings of coastal erosion. By integrating data about these observations into its GIS system, the Comité ZIP du Sud-de-l'Estuaire will understand where and how quickly the coast is eroding. "We'll know which roads or houses will be affected by erosion in 5, 10, or 20 years," says Mr. Lajoie. "We can then build a coastal erosion management plan to mitigate the impacts."

Protecting the harbour seals

The Comité ZIP du Sud-de-l'Estuaire has offered its newfound GIS resources and expertise to other environmental groups. The Réseau d'observation de mammifères marins (ROMM), a marine mammal observation network, is one such beneficiary.

A non-profit organization that works closely with the Comité ZIP du Sud-de-l'Estuaire, ROMM and some of its other partners are concerned about harbour seals that live among the St. Lawrence Estuary's many islands and islets. These seals represent one of the most contaminated marine mammal species. ROMM wants to understand how this small population lives in its habitat, and hopes to use that knowledge to develop conservation strategies.

With help from the Comité ZIP du Sud-de-l'Estuaire, some of ROMM's employees learned how to use GIS software to create maps-a vital part of the project. "The maps provide us with a global vision of the problems associated with the harbour seal population in the estuary," says Karine Savard, a biologist with ROMM. "We couldn't do this project without the partnership of the Comité ZIP."

In the long run, Mr. Lajoie understands that imagination is as important as technical skill when it comes to using GIS to solve the estuary's ecological challenges. "One need only ask, 'What can this system do for me?' and then all that remains is to find a way to do what one wants," he says. "It's that powerful."

GeoConnections is a national partnership initiative led by Natural Resources Canada to build the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) and make Canada's geospatial databases, tools, and services readily accessible on-line.