WATER AND SEDIMENT QUALITY
Indicators
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PRIMARY
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SECONDARY
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- Water temperature
- pH
- Conductivity
- Turbidity/ Colour
- Dissolved Oxygen
- Total Suspended Solids
- Total/Dissolved Organic Carbon
- Major Ions
- Nutrients
- Total/Dissolved Metals
- Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH)
- Bacteria such as:
- Fecal Coliform
- Fecal Strep.
- E. coli
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- Clarity
- Total Mercury
- Extractable Organochlorine
- Pesticides
- Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)
- Dioxins/ Furans
- BTEX
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State of Knowledge
Water and sediment quality are important to the health of natural and cultural environments. The Mackenzie River has more sediment than any other Arctic river in the world. These sediments contain organic material and metals that may affect the health of the environment, yet monitoring of sediments has been very limited compared to water quality monitoring. Current monitoring is regional and has not yet been integrated with local research.
Seasonal and short-term information (collected for less than 10 years) is good, but water and sediment information is lacking on for both lakes and ponds. Headwater streams sediment information is also very low. Where this information is available, it is often collected too infrequently to perform good assessments. Evaluations can be very costly.
There is little water and sediment information for non-flowing water bodies (lake/pond/march) relative to information for flowing water bodies (streams/rivers).
Contaminants in water and sediments are monitored over 10-year periods. Levels may vary seasonally, due to natural chemical cycles. Most contaminants, like PCBs and pesticides, are not local, however sometimes it is possible to determine their origin. Mercury occurs naturally, or may be present due to human activities.
The government sets water and sediment quality guidelines. Levels exceeding these guidelines are flagged. For some areas in NWT, up to 40 years of information can be used to define natural levels, in order to define a basis for comparison to future measurements.
Aquifers are underground water storage areas. Some are connected to the surface, but others are not. Drilling and seismic work is needed to locate and describe them. There is little information on aquifers in the NWT, including their water and sediment quality. There is also little information about baseline ground water quality and to a greater extent, karst (formations in limestone areas such as Nahanni, Wood Buffalo and Great Bear Lake areas).
Current Monitoring
- 2005 National Canadian Aquatic Bio-Monitoring Program (CABiN) is part of MGP Regional Study Area
- Current CABiN sampling at Nahanni NPR and surrounding South Nahanni River-Flat River Watershed-
- Tuktut Nogait and Aulavik National Parks, Huskty Eskimo Lakes water and sediment quality programs – EC, Parks Canada and DFO 2005
- Standard Environmental Effects (EEM) control-impact sampling program for input metals on water quality and biota to be conducted at Prairie Creek mine – University of Saskatchewan
- National HydroLab and YSI multi-sensor automated water monitoring quality stations. Two new hydrometric stations in MGP area- Environment Canada and INAC
- Northern Rivers Ecosystem Initiative - pollution prevention, ecological management, contaminants, nutrients, long-range transport, and research in northern rivers
- Inter-Jurisdictional Rivers Interim Aquatic Quality Monitoring Program - Hay and Slave Rivers
- Nahanni National Park Reserve aquatic quality follow-up monitoring program
- History and patterns of mercury in northern lakes and ponds – Fort Liard/Fisherman Lake area, Nahanni National Park Reserve, Tuktut Nogait and Aulavik National Parks
- Fort Simpson-Trout Lake
- Forest fire effects at Tibbitt Lake - INAC
- Aquatic effects monitoring at Ekati Mine - BHP
- Coppermine River Basin cumulative effects monitoring - INAC
- Slave River and Liard River Environmental Quality Monitoring Programs – INAC
- Peel River and Hay River Water and Sediment Quality Monitoring Programs - INAC
- Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network (EMAN) - EC
- Northern Energy (Oil & Gas) near Mackenzie Gas Project Anchor Sites in Mackenzie Delta/Tuktoyuktuk Area - EC
- Limnological research conducted in Mackenzie Delta/Tuktoyuktuk Peniinsula funded by Northern Energy MC funded Aquatic Quality Program
- Various Northern Energy MC-funded aquatic quality research projects of lentic and lotic water bodies of the MGP RSA ad subsequent research papers – Evans (EC), rempel (DFO) and Halliwell (EC) 2005, 2006 & 2007
- Pre-construction baseline condition monitoring for ponds and burrow pits in the Yellowknife Study Area
Gaps and Recommendations
- More frequent sampling of water and sediments on specific streams and lakes is required
- Water quality must be continually monitored
- More information is required on organics (water & sediment) and heavy metals (sediment)
- Gather and document traditional knowledge about water and sediment quality. Some linkages have been made with Mackenzie Valley Tariuq Inventory/Database
- Important underground water systems have not been identified
- Underground water systems and aquifers need to be mapped
- Information needs to be collected on groundwater and karst water and sediment
- Incorporate site-specific ground water monitoring within water license applications
- Complete the Aquatic Chemistry and Biological Information System
- Incorporate community participation and training into monitoring programs
Source: A Preliminary State of Knowledge of Valued Components for the NWT Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program (NWT CIMP) and Audit - Final Draft. February 2002; updated February 2005 and June 2007.
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