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GOAL: Make this the most complete source of information in existence on the Welland River - Target date - August 1, 2008.
The Welland River, sometimes called Chippawa Creek, is a river in the Niagara Region of southern Ontario which flows from its headwaters south of Hamilton, Ontario to empty into the Niagara River near the city of Niagara Falls, Ontario. It was named after the River Welland in Lincolnshire, England.
[edit] Watershed Description
The Welland River watershed drains an area of 880 square kilometres (340 sq mi) including much of the southern portion of the Niagara Peninsula.[1]
[edit] Sub-watersheds
The headwaters of the river branch out into many smaller channels. The significant tributaries to the river are as listed below, starting with the most westerly extending sub-watershed and proceeding east. Coordinates are approximations of the geographical center of the sub-watershed.[2]
| Tributary name | Drainage Area | Coordinates [3] |
|---|---|---|
| Welland River West | 205 km² (79 sq mi) | tbd |
| West Wolf Creek | 14 km² (5.4 sq mi) | tbd |
| Buckthorn Creek | 23 km² (8.9 sq mi) | tbd |
| Elsie Creek | 25 km² (9.7 sq mi) | tbd |
| Oswego Creek | 181 km² (70 sq mi) | tbd |
| Little Wolf Creek | 10 km² (3.9 sq mi) | tbd |
| Wolf Creek | 15 km² (5.8 sq mi) | tbd |
| Mill Creek | 20 km² (7.7 sq mi) | tbd |
| Beaver Creek | 72 km² (28 sq mi) | tbd |
| Forks Creek | 131 km² (51 sq mi) | tbd |
| Sucker Creek | 11 km² (4.2 sq mi) | tbd |
| Coyle Creek | 43 km² (17 sq mi) | tbd |
| Lyon's Creek | 47 km² (18 sq mi) | tbd |
| Thompson Creek | 10 km² (3.9 sq mi) | tbd |
| Tee Creek | 30 km² (12 sq mi) | tbd |
[edit] Water quality
The Welland River has humorously been described as "Too thick to drink and too thin to plow", referring to its muddy consistency. As will be discussed in this section, the river has significant issues with water quality due to agricultural, residential, industrial and urban factors.
[edit] Dilution
A quantity of water is fed into the Welland River watershed from the Welland Canal. The bulk of this is from the aqueduct on the abandoned canal (the Welland Recreational Waterway) in downtown Welland. In the 1970's, holes were bored in the bottom of this aqueduct to allow dilution of effluent from industrial discharge and sewage in Welland and downstream, and also to maintain a flow in the abandoned channel. {{Convert}} no longer accepts 7.1 as code. Please use instead. Please refer to {{convert}}'s talk page for the reasoning behind this. Sorry for any inconvenience. per second is diverted at this point. Additionally, {{Convert}} no longer accepts 1.4 as code. Please use instead. Please refer to {{convert}}'s talk page for the reasoning behind this. Sorry for any inconvenience. of water is allowed to flow into a backwater cut off from the main part of the river at Port Robinson due to its relocation for the construction of the Welland Canal bypass. A small amount of water is also pumped from the canal at Lyon's Creek to make up for flow lost when the upper reaches of that creek were severed by the canal bypass. This creek joins the Welland River about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from its mouth.[4]
[edit] Agricultural runoff
In the upper reaches, agriculture reaches right to the edge of the river and its tributaries. Similar to all agricultural locations, this does result in some soil particulates, pesticides and nutrients entering the watershed. Soil erosion and nutrients from manure and fertilizer are significant factors in the reduced water quality. While many efforts have been undertaken to reduce this problem, the unquestioned need for agricultural production near the river makes substantial elimination of this source of pollution almost impossible. Some efforts, partially funded by the government, have improved the situation. Mitigations such as vegetated buffer zones, keeping cattle away from streams and ditches flowing into the river and improved manure handling facilities are proposed, and to a limited degree, implemented.[5]
[edit] Sewage
- Welland sewage treatment facility
- Other similar facilities
[edit] "The blob"
"The blob" is a term used by local residents and media to refer to a mass of coal tar found on the bottom of the Welland River near Chippawa in 1986. The material was attributed to the Norton Abrasives plant (now part of the Saint-Gobain Corporation) in Chippawa. That company denies responsibility for the contamination, but voluntarily paid for a portion of the cleanup.
[edit] Other Industrial Pollutants
- Welland River Reef Cleanup????
[edit] Ecology
[edit] History
The first European known to describe the river was Father Louis Hennepin who wrote on December 7, 1678 that he camped for the night "near a river which runs westward, within a league above the great falls of Niagara".[6]
[edit] Military
[edit] Navigation
The Welland River's outlet at Chippawa is the limit of navigation on the upper Niagara River, with Niagara Falls being just about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) downstream. The river also forms a good harbour.
When the First Welland Canal was opened in 1829, it did not reach Lake Erie directly and ships would be lowered in a lock at Port Robinson, Ontario to the Welland River. From here, they would sail to Chippawa, and subsequently via the Niagara River to Lake Erie. As the natural route of the Welland River curved downstream into the Niagara, this necessitated a turn into a fast current dangerously close to the falls. To overcome this, the Chippawa Cut - a short canal allowing ships to proceed into the Niagara a short distance upstream - was constructed at approximately the same time as the Welland Canal. This cut created an island (known as Hogs, or Hoggs island).
The Welland Canal was extended directly to Lake Erie in 1833, but the Welland River continued to serve as a commercial shipping corridor for approximately another century. Steamship service was provided between Buffalo, New York and Port Robinson, Ontario via the Niagara River to Chippawa, then up the Welland River. These ships made connections at Chippawa with packet boats which sailed the Welland Feeder Canal to Dunnville, Ontario.
All crossings of the river below the Port Robinson lock were swing bridges. One of these - the Montrose Swing Bridge is still in existence today and still carries an active railway track over the river. Wooden pilings which once protected a swing bridge can still be seen beside the modern Montrose Road Bridge, and stone abutments from a railway bridge still exist in Chippawa. The Queen Elizabeth Way, which was built at the very end commercial of navigation on the river, was constructed with a high level bridge which remains today.
Above Welland, small vessel and barge navigation was possible as far as Port Davidson, Ontario. A lock at Welland allowed access to the river from the Welland Canal. Through navigation on the river was not possible for any but the very smallest of vessels as the aqueduct which carried the Welland Canal over the river offered minimal clearance. Bridges generally were fixed, but with sufficient clearance and span to allow these boats to pass.
[edit] Industry
[edit] Hydroelectric Development
The lower portion of the river, from its mouth at Chippawa to a point near the Queen Elizabeth Way has had its flow reversed. It now draws water out of the Niagara River to supply the Chippawa-Queenston power canal. This portion of the river has been dredged and deepened to accommodate this purpose. This canal feeds water to the hydroelectric generation stations on the escarpment above Queenston, Ontario. In addition to the water drawn from the Niagara River, 100% of the Welland River's own flow is diverted at this point.
[edit] Bridges
[edit] Modern uses
[edit] Notes
[edit] Sources
The river was originally called the Chippawa Creek since it drained into Niagara River at Chippawa. Like many other places in Niagara, it was renamed by John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada in 1792. The present name is taken from River Welland in Lincolnshire in eastern England. The river is still occasionally referred to as Chippawa Creek, especially by those in the Chippawa area itself.
The Welland Canal was named after the river since it originally was planned to link Lake Ontario to Welland River. The city of Welland, Ontario was later named after both waterways, which cross in the city.
The river flows through two aqueducts, under the Welland Recreational Waterway and the new alignment of the Welland Canal. An important tributary of the river is Coyle Creek, a picturesque and thickly forested creek that flows into the river on the north bank. The oldest structure spanning the river is O'Reilly's Bridge, which was built in 1901 and crosses the river between the townships of Pelham and Wainfleet. O'Reilly's Bridge is a single-lane iron truss bridge, the only of its kind on the entire river, and one of the oldest iron truss bridges in Southern Ontario.
Hydroelectric generation activities in the Niagara Falls region actually cause the flow in the lower section of this river to reverse, as seen in this satellite picture. Water is also diverted from Lake Erie into this river to supply power generation at DeCew Falls.
