Mining activities have had adverse impacts on many lakes and streams in Sudbury, Ontario, including Baby and Daisy Lake. This study is conducted in order to determine the best lake catchment among seven catchments of the two lakesĀ for potential future reclaimation. Regression models are created to display the relationship between concentration of water chemistry elements and the catchment characteristics: Slope, Vegetative cover (NDVI), Stream Power and Wetness. Having determined the importance of each of the characteristics, relative weights are assigned utilizing MCE. A suitability analysis is then produced in ArcMap and the results are finalized and illustrated on the map (Figure 2.0). It can be concluded that Baby C is the most suitable catchment to be reclaimed based on its highest suitability score.
This study provides more information of the significance of the lake catchments and the water chemistry elements currently present. The final result is useful in a way that it could help with the regulation of future mining and smelting activities and further prevention pollution or contamination that may occur within the area. Identifying existing features and characteristics of the catchments could be an important step to determine cumulative environmental effects during the scoping stage of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).