Professor's Lake

Professor's Lake
Aerial view of Professor's Lake
Professor's Lake
Location	Brampton, Ontario
Coordinates	43°44′51″N 79°44′5″W
Lake type	Artificial lake
Basin countries	Canada
Surface area	65 acres (26 ha)
Max. depth	42 m (138 ft)
Settlements	Brampton

Professor's Lake is a 65-acre (26 ha) spring-fed artificial lake located in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. Beginning in 1918, the area where the lake currently exists was a sand and gravel mining site supplying aggregates for construction projects in the northwest area of the Greater Toronto Area. In total, the facility produced approximately 20 million tonnes (40 million tons) of sand and gravel. Little is known about activity at the site during the 30s and 40s but it was known to operate as a sand and gravel facility from time to time. It reopened as a significant aggregate (sand & gravel) production facility in 1954 and continued to operate on a fairly steady basis until 1973. By the early 1970's the site, by then operated by Standard Aggregates Ltd. (a subsidiary of Lafarge Canada), had exhausted the available sand and gravel from the available land. For several years Standard Aggregate used the site as a sand and gravel processing and storage facility as the operators shipped in raw material from other aggregate deposits in the area such as Mono Mills and Caledon. By the mid 70s Standard Aggregates eventually closed the operation and moved all of the equipment to their other operations around Southern Ontario. They then rehabilitated the site with the intention that it would eventually be used for residential housing. A number of years later Standard Aggregates was awarded "The Bronze Plaque Award" for the rehabilitation by the Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association for the quality of the rehabilitation. That plaque is mounted on a boulder outside the current Recreation center next to the parking lot.

Since the sand and gravel facility operated below the natural water table the site had a system of pumps to prevent flooding. This is very common for pits and quarries which frequently extract their aggregate at levels below the natural water table. Contrary to popular belief, extraction activity did not result in rapid flooding due to striking water and the sudden abandonment of equipment and the pit itself. Standard Aggregates merely removed the pumps once the pit was closed and site rehabilitation was completed and approved by the Ontario government in compliance with the Ontario Aggregate Resources Act. Once the pumps were removed it took a number of months for the site to completely fill with water. When the entire area was rehabilitated, Standard Aggregates put the property up for sale. The property changed hands several times before being purchased by the German based developer Lehndorff Corp. and its residential development arm AMEX. Several development proposals were considered and amended before the Brampton City Council agreed to a final proposal from AMEX. The final proposal covered the area currently bounded by Bramalea Rd., Bovaird Dr., Torbram Rd. and North Park Drive. It was at this time that the area acquired its name, Professor's Lake. Dr. Hans Abromeit, the President of Lehndorff had a PhD in economics and had been a professor in Germany earlier in his career. He was referred to as the "Professor" by staff at Lehndorff and AMEX. Although originally opposed to the purchase of the lake and surrounding land the development became a pet project for Dr. Abromeit. Staff around the AMEX office casually referred to the development as "the Professor's Lake" and the name eventually stuck.

Several prominent Ontario developers (Greenpark Homes, Lakeview Homes & Bramalea Limited.) purchased tracts of land from AMEX, and by the early 80's houses quickly sprung up in what is known as the "P" section of Brampton. Most of the housing was completed by the late 90's. The lake is now used extensively for paddle boarding, kayaking, windsurfing, fishing and canoeing. Professor's Lake Recreation Centre is located on the northeastern side of the lake just off North Park Drive. The Recreation Centre has a beach for swimming as well as a waterslide. There is a boathouse that offers watercraft rentals. There are also three volleyball courts at the beach.

The residential neighbourhood surrounding the lake is also widely referred to as Professor's Lake. Homes and a small park border the westerly side of the lake. A paved 2 kilometre promenade borders much of the north and north east sections of the lake and residential homes border the walkway. One can easily walk the 3 km around the lake by walking on the paved walkway and the connecting streets. The lake continues to be spring fed and drains into the Brampton underground water control system at the northeast end of the lake. The city stocks the lake with a variety of fish species from time to time.

In August 1998 the lake was temporarily closed after a local angler caught a rogue piranha in the lake. After divers did a full survey of the lake and none more were found it was concluded that someone had released their aquarium piranha into the lake. Piranhas are tropical fish and it could not have survived a Canadian winter when the water temperature plummeted.

Professor's Lake