Assessing the Effects of Low Impact Development on the Receiving Headwater Streams of the Northeast Pickering Land Development**

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Urban land development affects the health of the streams in the developed watershed and downstream. The quantity, quality, and timing of surface runoff routed to streams are all changed due to both the increase in land surfaces such as roofs and roads that are impervious to water and the dense network of gutters, drains and pipes that rapidly turn rainfall into flow in open channels. Consistently observed symptoms of the urban stream syndrome include poor water quality, low biotic richness, and massive channel erosion. Typical stormwater management (SWM) practices such as ponds can reduce flood peaks but do not reduce the overall volume of water sent through stream networks and may adversely affect other environmental variables such as stream temperature. Low impact development (LID) is an alternative SWM practice, relatively sparsely applied in Canada, that aims to manage stormwater where it falls, thereby reducing volumes routed to urban streams and potentially avoiding many of the problems of urban streams. **The proposed Northeast Pickering (NEP) development intends to implement LID features as the primary SWM practice and return the site to a natural state of forested hydrology. There is an opportunity to monitor the hydrologic and hydraulic changes that occur in the catchment and to link these changes with recent research on comparable system in the area as a means of assessing the benefits of a comprehensive application of LID approaches. The primary objectives of the proposed research is to establish a hydraulic monitoring strategy for the catchment and evaluate the potential impact of LID on the NEP stream network. Methods will include field characterization of existing conditions, identifying areas of channel instability using a spatial analysis tool developed at the University of Waterloo, establishing an automatic sediment transport monitoring station using a combination of radio frequency identification transponders (RFID) and impact plates, and modelling the impact on channel stability and sediment budgets. The hope is that this research will help evaluate the benefits of LID and allow this site to be used as a model for implementation in Canada.********