Notikewin and Keg Rivers Water Quality Monitoring Program 2018 the County of Northern Lights and the North Peace Applied Research Association (NPARA)
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Notikewin and Keg Rivers Water Quality Monitoring Program 2018 The County of Northern Lights and the North Peace Applied Research Association (NPARA) Prepared for: County of Northern Lights 600-7th Avenue NW Box 10 Manning, Alberta T0H 2M0 and North Peace Applied Research Association 116-4th Avenue SW Manning, Alberta T0H 2M0 March 15, 2019 Prepared by: Aquality Environmental Consulting Ltd. #204, 7205 Roper Road NW Edmonton, AB, Canada, T6B 3J4 NOTIKEWIN AND KEG RIVERS WATER QUALITY 2018 PAGE 1 Notikewin and Keg Rivers Water Quality Monitoring Program 2018 The County of Northern Lights and the North Peace Applied Research Association (NPARA) Signature Page Prepared by: Reviewed and Approved by: Joshua Haag, B.Sc., P.Biol. Jay S. White, M.Sc., P.Biol. Biologist Senior Biologist and Principal ©2019 Aquality Environmental Consulting Ltd. NOTIKEWIN AND KEG RIVERS WATER QUALITY 2018 PAGE 2 Contents Table of Contents Contents ............................................................................................................................... 2 Table of Contents ...........................................................................................................................2 List of Figures .................................................................................................................................3 List of Tables ..................................................................................................................................4 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 5 2 Methods .................................................................................................................... 5 2.1 Sampling Sites .....................................................................................................................5 2.2 Water Quality Parameters ...................................................................................................7 2.3 River Water Quality Index Calculations ................................................................................7 2.4 Climate Information ............................................................................................................8 3 Results ....................................................................................................................... 9 3.1 Routine Water Quality.........................................................................................................9 3.1.1 pH ........................................................................................................................................ 10 3.1.2 Routine Ions ........................................................................................................................ 11 3.1.3 Total Suspended Solids (TSS) .............................................................................................. 12 3.2 Nutrients .......................................................................................................................... 13 3.2.1 Total Nitrogen (TN) ............................................................................................................. 14 3.2.2 Total Phosphorus (TP) ......................................................................................................... 15 3.3 Metals .............................................................................................................................. 16 3.4 Bacteria ............................................................................................................................ 18 3.5 Herbicides and Pesticides .................................................................................................. 20 3.6 River Water Quality Index ................................................................................................. 22 4 Discussion ................................................................................................................ 24 4.1 Routine Parameters .......................................................................................................... 24 4.2 Nutrients .......................................................................................................................... 24 4.3 Metals .............................................................................................................................. 25 4.4 Bacteria ............................................................................................................................ 25 4.5 Pesticides .......................................................................................................................... 25 4.6 Overall Water Quality ........................................................................................................ 26 5 Conclusions and Recommendations .......................................................................... 27 7 Bibliography ............................................................................................................. 28 Appendix A - Detailed Water Quality Parameter Lists........................................................... 31 Routine Water Quality Parameters ............................................................................................... 31 Nutrient Water Quality Parameters .............................................................................................. 31 Bacteria Water Quality Parameters ............................................................................................... 31 Pesticides Water Quality Parameters ............................................................................................ 32 Metals Water Quality Parameters ................................................................................................. 33 Appendix B - River Water Quality Index Calculations ............................................................ 34 Overview ..................................................................................................................................... 34 Objectives Used in the Water Quality Index .................................................................................. 35 ©2019 Aquality Environmental Consulting Ltd. NOTIKEWIN AND KEG RIVERS WATER QUALITY 2018 PAGE 3 List of Figures Figure 1. Water quality monitoring program sample sites, including 2018 and historical locations. .......... 6 Figure 2. Summary of surface water pH at all sites. Top: bars represent 2018 values, points indicate seasonal averages by site across all years. Bottom: bars represent average values for each site by year, error bars indicate standard deviation of measurements for each site within the given year. ................. 10 Figure 3. Summary of routine ions at all sites. Values are stacked, as individual components contribute to overall measures of hardness, salinity, alkalinity, and conductivity........................................................... 11 Figure 4. Summary of Total Suspended Solids (TSS) at all sites. Top: bars represent 2018 values, points indicate seasonal averages by site across all years. Bottom: bars represent average values for each site by year, error bars indicate standard deviation of measurements for each site within the given year. ... 12 Figure 5. Total Nitrogen (mg/L) in surface water at all sites. Areas are stacked to indicate overall total nitrogen concentrations, comprising the contributions of dissolved (upper area on each figure) and particulate forms (lower are on each figure). ............................................................................................. 14 Figure 6. Total Phosphorus (mg/L) in surface water at all sites. Areas are stacked to indicate overall total nitrogen concentrations, comprising the contributions of dissolved (upper area on each figure) and particulate forms (lower are on each figure). ............................................................................................. 15 Figure 7. Summary of Total Coliforms at all sites. Top: bars represent 2018 values, points indicate seasonal averages by site across all years. Bottom: bars represent average values for each site by year, error bars indicate standard deviation of measurements for each site within the given year. ................. 18 Figure 8. Summary of E. coli at all sites. Top: bars represent 2018 values, points indicate seasonal averages by site across all years. Bottom: bars represent average values for each site by year, error bars indicate standard deviation of measurements for each site within the given year. .................................. 19 Figure 9. Overall Water Quality Index Scores from all sites, 2011 – 2018. Dashed lines indicate overall linear trend, though the statistical significance of these trends was not determined due to the limited number of years of data available from some sites. .................................................................................. 22 Figure 10. Contributions of sub-indices to over Water Quality Index for each site, 2011 – 2018. ............ 23 ©2019 Aquality Environmental Consulting Ltd. NOTIKEWIN AND KEG RIVERS WATER QUALITY 2018 PAGE 4 List of Tables Table 1. Sample sites in the Notikewin and Keg rivers, 2018. ...................................................................... 5 Table 2. Average air temperature and total precipitation conditions for Peace River (Climate ID 3075040) from 1983 to 2018 compared to 2018. Data from Environment