The Pine Ridge and Westminster neighbourhood sits within the Hanlon Creek and Torrence Creek watersheds. The neighbourhood has been designed to maintain and protect the Hanlon and Torrence Creeks, wetlands, and other natural areas.
One key neighbourhood feature is the greenway stormwater management system designed to clean and store water from the local area. The greenway was constructed with layers of sand, topsoil, and native plants that trap sediment and pollutants. Water is absorbed directly into the ground and feeds the local aquifer. This groundwater is a drinking water source for the City of Guelph.
You can help keep the greenway and our water clean by:
- Picking up litter
- Cleaning up after your pets
- Limiting use of fertilizer on your garden
This greenway system was designed and constructed to compliment the City’s natural heritage system, a connected network of natural features including wetlands, forests, valleys, and meadows. Protecting this system preserves local biological, hydrological, and geological diversity.
This area includes kettles, a geological feature formed in the last ice age. Kettles formed when retreating glaciers left behind large ice blocks that slowly melted, leaving behind large depressions.
Keep an eye out for interesting natural features, plants, insects, and birds as you explore this area.
Greenway cross-section
An image depicting the design of the Pineridge Westminster Greenway. Water runs over the land into the meadow. The water travels through the sandy soil and into the infiltration trench; debris and pollutants are filtered out along the way. Water then travels through the ground into the groundwater aquifer where it may recharge streams or be used for drinking water.