On Saturday September 12, 2026, CEWF held its Annual Communications Meeting at The Link on County Highway 21 in Haliburton. The meeting was open for any lake association member to attend either in person or online via Zoom.
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See below a high-level summary of the meeting.
To view a recording of the meeting - click here(opens in new tab) (PW is 2$Qn774Q)
To view the presentation charts - click here
The CEWF Chair, Ted Spence, welcomed all participants; in person and on-line, including members of the CEWF Executive along with the TSW Water Management Manager, Anna Ciorap, and the Acting Director, Ontario Waterways, John Festarini, who was on-line.
Ted introduced John Festarini and announced that John has been with TSW for many years and is very familiar with the management of the reservoir system. John spoke briefly about the current federal budget process, indicating that the budget allocation to TSW is uncertain at this time. However, he assured the audience that any possible budget cutbacks would not impact water management operations. John then gave the floor over to Anna who reviewed the current capital and possible future projects.
Ted Spence presented an overview of the Trent-Severn watershed and the constraints the TSW faces to execute Integrated Water Management at the Watershed level. He then outlined the CEWF perspectives on the exceptional circumstances that TSW has been facing with extreme weather patterns this year, comparing 2026 to 2025. This year began with 50% more rain than normal in March and April which, combined with the snowmelt, lead to flood conditions especially in the Gull River at Minden. Levels were back to normal by late May with summer levels slightly higher than average on most lakes due to short periods of very heavy rains in localized areas. The drawdown is progressing normally with ½ log adjustments to reach winter log settings by early October and minimum water levels by mid-October.
The next presentation was by Anna Ciorap, who provided an overview of the continuous data collection, monitoring and analysis work that she supervises, leading to daily decisions on water management strategies. She then reviewed in detail the factors exacerbating the March-April freshet and noted the variability of rain amounts and its distribution throughout this summer.
The CEWF Vice-Chair, Bruce McClennan, presented a summary of the County of Haliburton’s Floodplain Mapping Project. He explained the lake high water and riverine flood lines mapped and the implications for waterfront property owners.
Roger Cunningham, the CEWF Secretary/Treasurer, presented an overview of the financial income from the 32-member lake associations with its use for a variety of expenses, and then acknowledged the 10-member Executive Committee. He then reviewed CEWF’s extensive communication efforts with TSW management and lake association members.
The meeting concluded with Q&A and closed with comments from Ted Spence thanking the TSW representatives and all attendees for their participation.