The Essex Region Conservation Authority is heading into another budget year and the focus will remain tackling climate change and reducing flooding.
This from Executive Director Richard Wyma who says the authority is looking to do more while asking for a modest increase from local municipalities.
If approved, ERCA's 2019 budget would total $7.7-million — that includes an increase of just $89,000 or 32 cents per Essex County resident.
Wyma says climate change is real and work to counteract it needs to continue.
"The impacts that we're seeing as a result of climate change and changing weather conditions, changing water levels, these aren't anything that one municipality can deal with. We really do need to look at this from a regional scale. So in 2018 we hired a climate change specialist. In 2019, we'll be continuing that work and what are some of the priorities that we should be focusing on."
He says flooding in Windsor-Essex has reached levels never seen before and is projected to get worse.
"We saw the impacts of high water levels last year. The US Army Corps of Engineers and the Canadian Water Survey are, again, predicting that water levels will be as high, if not higher than they've ever been in the past. That certainly presents some concerns for us and should represent some concerns for people in the community. We need to work with municipalities to ensure response plans are in place."
Richard Wyma, General Manager for the Essex Region Conservation Authority, addresses the council for the Town of Essex on March 5, 2018. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)
Wyma says efforts to reduce phosphorus — the fertilizer responsible for blue-green algae blooms — will ramp up in 2019 as well.
"We received $600,000 worth of funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada to look at implementing some new best practices especially around addressing phosphorus loss and phosphorus run off into the Great Lakes. So we'll be continuing that work as well as continuing our monitoring of rivers and streams."
ERCA's board of directors is expected to approve the 2019 budget at its regular meeting Thursday night.
The authority maintains 19 conservation areas and more than 80 kilometres of outdoor trails across the region.