RE: IAAC - Sun Gro Sugar Creek Peat Harvesting Project

Jennifer

Your understanding is correct that Sun Gro will not be diverting water from a natural water body to another natural water body. They will be constructing drainage ditches within the Sugar Creek Bog Sub Areas B, C, D, and E to reduce the water saturation within the perched groundwater within the peat to allow for peat harvesting.

The attached .kmz file provides the outline of the four Sub Areas, which are all located on Provincial Crown Land. KGS Group is in the process of preparing the Environment Act Proposal to obtain the required Environment Act Licence for peat harvesting. While we have completed the baseline water quality and biological surveys we are still in the process of preparing the project description, environmental assessment and public/Indigenous engagement. As such at this time I can only provide high level details as you requested.

The main project components will include:

• an access road from PR 325 to Sub Area C
• a staging area within Sub Area 3
• bog roads within and connecting the Sub Areas
• drainage ditch system in the areas with harvestable peat within each Sub Area
• sedimentation ponds and an outlet ditch with a gated culvert which discharges drainage water to the southeast, which will eventually reach an existing drainage ditch south of the site.

Major project activities include constructing the access and bog roads, clearing vegetation and surface soils, excavating and trenching drainage ditches, harvesting and stockpiling unprocessed peat, transporting and restoring harvested peatland.

Here are some additional details to help you better understand drainage at the site. The drainage ditches are typically excavated to a depth of 1.5 m. Therefore the total volume of peat to be drained per hectare (Ha) of harvesting field is 15,000 m³. This volume of peat will hold approximately 14,250 m³ of water assuming an average 95% moisture content before drainage. Moisture content generally varies between 60 to 85% following drainage after the field ditches are cut. Therefore, assuming an average of 70% moisture content remains after drainage (25% drains), the volume of drainage water will total approximately 3,750 m³ per hectare of peatland opened up for harvesting. At this time Sun Gro anticipates opening approximately 80 hectares at a time which would result in approximately 300,000 m³ of water drained from initial drainage. After the initial drainage occurs following construction of the ditches the only drainage is any rain that falls on the site, which would already naturally drain off the site.