The Orwell River, a small second order stream, runs through the Macphail Woods. The river is part of the Orwell Bay watershed complex, located primarily in southeastern Queen's county and into King's county. The complex is comprised of four major sub-basins; Seal River, Vernon River, Orwell River, and the Newton River. Overall, the Orwell complex drains 200 km2's of land area through 120 km's of streams and rivers which drain into Orwell bay followed by hillsborough bay and finally into the Northumberland Strait on the south side of the island.

Topographical Map of Orwell River and area.

Topographical Map of Orwell River and area - Larger Version.
Map of Orwell Watershed.
Map of PEI Watersheds

For the Orwell River, it's length of stream is 19.56 km and drains a total area of 32.72 km2. It's highest elevation is 46m where it originates from ground springs. Of the total area within the rivers watershed, approximately one third is forested (10.64 km2), while the rest is cleared primarily for agriculture. Since the topology is mostly flat, it is well suited for agriculture. In addition, 70% of the soils within the Orwell watershed are Class 2, well suited for crop production. Overall, PEI podzol soils were formed form the weathering of sandstone, thus are sandy, permeable and stone-free.

Section of an Island stream.

Orwell River Fishkill
During July in 1999, dead fish were discovered along the Orwell river that runs through the macphail woods trails. After an investigation, pesticides were determined to be the cause of the fishkill. The PEI government performed an investigation and have released a report.
Orwell River Fishkills. Requires PDF Viewer.

Unfortunately, this fishkill incident was not unique. PEI has had a number of fishkills the past few years. Here is a listing of PEI government news releases concerning fishkills. The province has made available it's reports from their fishkill investigations. It covers the period between 1994-2000. You will require a PDF viewer as well.

There are a number of Articles on this topic:

• Nitrates Demand Action
• Fish Kill Action Plan heavy on education, light on action
• Will the new buffer zone legislation be enough?
• New buffer zone legislation just won't get the job done
• Just what will it take to make our government take action

Provincial Resources

• Water Section - Environment, Energy and Forestry Department
• Wetland Fact Sheets - A series of PDF's on various wetland topics.
• 1999 PEI Water Quality Interpretive Report - PDF Viewer required