The Grand River has been helping Waterloo Region thrive for over 100 years.

But a century ago no one could even swim or fish in the river because water quality was so poor from years of agriculture, industry and development, which had taken a toll on the landscape.

In the '60s and '70s no one in this area would even think about going into that river, Mark Anderson says.

The water quality engineer, who has worked for Grand River Conservation Authority for about 20 years, says today Waterloo Region is recognized a leader for its investments in wastewater treatment, which has led to enormous improvements in this section of the river.

“Another indicator of how much the river has improved is how much recreation we have from canoeing, kayaking, tubing, and fishing. We’ve improved incredibly over the decades but there is still work to do,” Anderson says.

One of the coordinators of the Ancient Mariners Canoe Club of Cambridge, Arthur Alyea, says he started noticing changes in the Grand River 20 years ago.

“It’s improved dramatically.”

Alyea has been canoeing up and down the Grand River for most of his life and recently noticed a shift in the number of recreational activities and people using the river. 

“There are more fish coming back. You see more people out now than you used to. It's safer now, less garbage and waste in the river.”

Jordan Pockett runs A Perfect Drift Guide Company, which takes nearly 25 per cent of their fishing tours on the Grand River every year.

He has been fishing on the Grand for over 10 years and says he's seen some big changes.

Nearly 20 years ago it was a world-class fishing destination, Pockett says.

“It’s got so many wide varieties of species and it's extremely accessible to fish. It's public and the scenery changes from one point in the river to another.”

The top three fish found in Cambridge are steelhead, bass and walleye. Steelhead, which come up from Lake Erie, have been on decline in the last couple of years, Pockett says.

There are some parts of the river where researchers like associate professor Ryan Prosser are investigating why fish aren't doing well. He works for the University of Guelph and has been studying the Grand River for the past 11 years.

It’s a good water system to study because of how many people live along the Grand River including Waterloo Region, Prosser says. 

Wastewater upgrades are the biggest improvements in the last 10 years, he added researchers have reported improvements in different parts of the Grand River.

“You're seeing recovery in the fish species downstream. You're seeing some recovery in the bug species.”

“We’ve seen the return of important species like rainbow darter. There have been improvements in those populations which I’m sure has been beneficial downstream in the Cambridge area.”

Prosser says as far as eating the fish out of the Grand, it depends on how much you consume, where you caught it and what species it is.

In parts of Preston, Prosser says freshwater mussels are common but there are other parts of the Grand that are now ‘dead zones,’ meaning the mussels still haven’t come back or in such small populations the researchers can’t find them.

Other research topics Prosser is looking into are the number of microplastics and pesticides in the Grand River and ways they are affecting aquatic species.

“There's definitely microplastics in the Grand River. That’s not surprising based on what we have seen in other parts of the world. Microplastics are everywhere.”

But overall, researchers like Prosser have seen an improvement in the Grand River’s water quality in the last decade.

“Let’s continue to work so we don’t lose the gains that we’ve made.”

About the Author: Justine Fraser