A Walk Along the Otonabee

EDITOR’S NOTE
PROJECTS l POLICY l INNOVATION
MARCH/APRIL 2024 • VOLUME 24, NUMBER 2
EDITOR
Toby Gorman
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A Walk Along the Otonabee
A FAVOURITE DOG WALK my wife and I like to do a few times a week is at Lock
22 of the Trent-Severn Waterway in Peterborough, Ont. It’s on the Otonabee River
just north of Trent University, and can be accessed by River Road, which winds like a
ribbon right up against the shoreline past locks 23, 24, 25 and 26 up to Lakefield. It is
a stunningly beautiful section of the Otonabee. On summer nights with the sun setting
in the west, it can feel like you’re in the Deep South, maybe Mississippi or Louisiana.
The river, in some parts a hundred metres wide, flows lazily under an orange sky with
rolling green and gold hills as the backdrop.
But at Lock 22, there is a lot more going on than a lazy river. The lock itself was
completed just before the turn of the 20th century as a way to move logs and other
industrial materials from Georgian Bay to Lake Ontario. Today, it accommodates
mostly recreational boaters out for a day’s journey or, for the more adventurous, the
9,700-kilometre Great Loop.
Once you cross over the lock’s small pedestrian bridge spanning the canal, you’re on
a small peninsula with a pathway that leads you to a large dam. Some days, a trickle
flows through the chutes while on others, after a rain or heavy snowfall, the chutes are
boiling with a massive release of water that thunders as it passes through. The feeling of
power as you stand at the railing looking down is always impressive. On hot days, it’s a
great place to loiter as the spray, spiralling upwards more than 30 metres, is refreshing.
The chutes are opened and closed with an ancient looking machine that runs along rails
along the deck of the dam. This one is particularly rusty. We guess it’s been in service
for more than 80 years. The machine lowers and lifts giant, square-hewn B.C. cedar
timbers to control the river’s flow, especially during the spring freshet or after a major
snowmelt. The dam is an impressive feat of architecture, and it’s just as impressive to
think there are five of them on just a seven-kilometre span of the river. Three of them
are owned and operated by the Trent-Severn Waterway under Parks Canada. While
some provide power generation, they all manipulate the Otonabee so water doesn’t
pour into downtown Peterborough during times of heavy water flow.
Once you travel over the dam, a multi-use pathway guides you to another smaller
dam less than one hundred metres up the path. This is the Robert G. Lake Generating Station, named for the former president of the Peterborough Utilities Group who
presided over the company for 20 years. This station was completed in 2009 with two
MW bulb turbines. The intake canal is more than one kilometre long to accommodate
for the height difference between locks 22 and 23. This site is operated by the Trent
Rapids Power Corporation.
At this dam we often peer over the edge into the swirling, sometimes angry, waters below before heading back to our car. Every time I’m amazed at the amount of
infrastructure built within such a small section of the river. Equally impressive is what
the river provides us with. Recreation, power generation, biodiversity, drinking water,
transportation, and much more. It’s a precious resource. This parcel of land is a great
example of harnessing a valuable water resource for many purposes while keeping the
river wild and free as it travels on its journey to the sea.
Toby Gorman is the editor of Water Canada. toby@actualmedia.ca
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