Land Use

Urban areas within the Lake Simcoe watershed include: the Towns of Newmarket and Aurora, Village of Schomberg, Uxbridge, Sunderland, Keswick, Sutton, Pefferlaw, Beaverton, Cannington, Bradford, and the Cities of Barrie, Orillia and Kawartha Lakes.

The watershed population within the urban centres continues to grow faster than originally anticipated based on past estimates. All evidence suggests that this rapid growth in the population is the result of increased development pressures from Toronto. More than half of the Lake Simcoe watershed is designated as being within the 'Greater Toronto Area' (GTA) with the remaining area considered to be part of the GTA's 'hinterland',