Water Monitoring Programs Water Research and Studies ENR Water Resources Division

Transcription

1 Water Monitoring Programs Water Research and Studies ENR Water Resources Division NWT Water Stewardship Strategy Implementation Workshop February 4-5, 2015 Yellowknife, NT Photo credit: T. Dwyer

2 Presentation Summary Water Research and Studies Section ENR Water Resources Division Key Activities Programs Research Partnerships Products

3 Water Resources Division General Overview New Division formed on April 1, Approximately 40 staff 4 Sections Watershed Programs and Partnerships Water Regulatory Taiga Environmental Laboratory Water Research and Studies

4 Water Resources Division Program Areas Taiga Environmental Laboratory Only full service Canadian accredited analytical laboratory in the NWT (since 1993) Staff are designated as the Analyst under the NWT Waters Act Analyze Water, Soil and Sediment samples Analyses include Inorganics, Organics, Metals and Bacteriological In 2014, received 1080 sample batches, ran 4971 tests and produced results

5 Water Resources Division Water Research and Studies Key Activities Develop and manage water quality and quantity programs Conduct Aquatic Ecosystem Studies Research Partnerships Transboundary River Monitoring Long Term Network Monitoring Analysis of scientific data Preparation of Technical and Public reports Communicate Results Provide advice on regulatory and environmental issues

6 Water Research and Studies Programs Long term Monitoring Networks National Hydrometric Network, Water Survey Canada Snow Survey Network, with NTPC Weather/Climate Network Water Quality Network Transboundary Monitoring Lodestar Environmental Database Research Partnerships Hay River Flood Forecasting Changing Hydrology in the Taiga Shield Tli Cho Fish and Water Monitoring Study Slave River Delta Partnership (SRDP)/ SWEEP

7 The National Hydrometric Network Partnership w/ Water Survey of Canada 93 stations in the NWT 33 are either cost-shared or fully funded by the GNWT AANDC Funding was transferred to ENR on April 1, 2014 Archived and real-time water level and stream flow data Website -

8

9 Hydrometric Data Applications Environmental Assessments and Water Licensing Design pipeline crossings & highway bridges/culverts Mine dewatering at diamond mines Flow Forecasting Coast Guard funded Mackenzie/Liard Ferry Operations & Barge Traffic Transboundary Water Management Agreements Flows for Bilateral Agreements (MRBB) Trend Analysis Frequency of Flooding, Ice Jam Modelling Climate Change and Climate Cycles Hydro-electric (Snare/Taltson/Yellowknife)

10 46 active NWT stations: Records date back to 1968 Snow water equivalent data Snow Survey Network ms/snow-surveys

11

12 Snow Survey Data Applications Spring freshet-flood predictions Analysis of spatial/temporal trends Forecasting/planning for hydropower capacity Collaborators/Data Users: NWT Power Corp; Water Resources; Operations- Lands; AANDC Contaminants Directorate; GNWT/ENR- Forestry & Wildlife Divisions

13 Weather/Climate Station Network Evaporation Sites Pocket Lake Research Sites Baker Creek Tibbitt Lake Daring Lake Peel Plateau Taglu Tower Harry Channel Blueberry Tuktoyaktuk Pocket Lake site

14 Typical Weather/Climate Station Daring Lake site

15

16 Weather/Climate Data Applications Monitoring of precipitation and evaporation rates Essential for management of mine site water and treatment Understanding interactions of weather/climate Local land surfaces, vegetation cover, and runoff Filling in areal gaps in spatial data Understanding regional and local weather/climate Monitoring transboundary water management Forecasting risk of flood, drought, and fire Frequency of Flooding, Ice Jam Modelling Climate Change and Climate Cycles Hydro-electric generation

17 Water Quality Network Yellowknife, Cameron, Marian Rivers Upper Coppermine River Basin Upper Lockhart River Basin South Slave Region

18

19 Water Quality Network Yellowknife, Cameron, Marian Rivers Monthly Sampling Yellowknife River since 1987 Cameron River since 1983 Marian River since 1997 Analysis: metals, major ions, nutrients, physicals, bacteriological, ultra low mercury.

20 Water Quality Network Yellowknife, Cameron, Marian Rivers Hydrolab in Cameron River year-round Data is being assessed for trends (University of Waterloo and CIMP)

21 Water Quality Network Upper Coppermine/Upper Lockhart River Basins Coppermine River Basin ( : 10 sites; 2010-present: 5 sites) Lockhart River Basin (2006-present: 3 sites)

22 Water Quality Network Upper Coppermine/Upper Lockhart River Basins Sampling takes place 4X/year. Analyses: total and dissolved metals, major ions, ultralow nutrients, physicals, ultralow mercury. Status and trends assessment (water quality and quantity) is underway.

23 Water Quality Network South Slave Region Ten sites sampled 2 times/year since 1982 Collected by the Water Resource Officer in Fort Smith Analyses: metals, major ions, nutrients and physicals Hydrolab in Town pump house year-round Provides water quality data for South Slave Region including the transboundary agreements

24 Water Quality Data Applications Source water protection, recreation and aquatic health assessments Research programs (SRDP, SWEEP) State of the Aquatic Environment Reporting (GNWT, MRBB) Environmental Assessments and Water Licensing Assessed for cumulative impacts of developments and climate change within the basin Environment Canada Freshwater Quality Index - (CESI)

25 Transboundary Rivers Monitoring Slave River at Fort Smith With Smith Landing First Nation Liard River above Kotaneelee With Acho Dene Koe First Nation Peel River above ferry crossing With Tetlit Gwich in Tribal Council Hay River at NWT border With K atl odeeche First Nation and Environment Canada

26 Transboundary Rivers Monitoring Centrifuge Sampling Dates Initial Follow-up Current Slave River /01,2003, 2006/07, present Liard River , present Hay River (with DOE) 2004, present Peel River Fish were collected on the Slave and Liard Rivers in the initial studies

27 Transboundary Rivers Monitoring Laboratory Analysis Water and Suspended Sediments ~ 200 parameters Basic Parameters: ph, total suspended solids, conductivity, nutrients, major ions Metals: aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, lead, manganese, mercury, nickel, zinc. Hydrocarbons: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) Organochlorine compounds: PCBs Agricultural pesticides (DDT and toxaphene) Chlorinated Phenols, Dioxins, Furans: compounds associated with pulp and paper, waste incineration (Slave River only)

28 Transboundary Rivers Data Applications Provides information on the water and suspended sediment quality conditions of transboundary rivers Determine if water and/or suspended sediment quality are changing Data used in the development of site specific water quality objectives for inclusion in transboundary agreements Data used to help address community and local concerns related to potential contaminants in the rivers

29 Lodestar Environmental Database Goal is to provide a consistent approach to environmental data management across NWT Water, soil, sediment and air data as well as (e.g., fish, permafrost, vegetation) Allows automatic upload of laboratory data. Rigorous data validation procedures Statistical summaries, graphical outputs Reports in multiple formats allow user to export for use in other applications (e.g., graphing, statistical Currently data is available upon request.

30 Research partnerships Hay River Ice Jam Flood Forecasting Model Changing Hydrology in the Taiga Shield Baker Creek Marian River Watershed Community Based Aquatic Effects Monitoring Program Tłįchǫ Aquatic Ecosystem Monitoring Program/Fish camp Isotope Evaporation Study Slave River and Delta Partnership (SRDP)/SWEEP Peace-Athabasca Delta Env. Monitoring Program (PADEMP

31 Research Partnerships: Hay River Ice Jams/ Flood Forecasting Model Dr Faye Hicks, U of Alberta Field Program 2014 Bathymetric mapping Channel surveying Break-up monitoring Ice jam models Develop and test Flow & level forecasts Implementation transition to WRD in 2011 Co-op: Community Flood Watch Hay River EMO, West Point & Katlodeeche FNs, Red McBryan

32 Research Partnership: Changing Hydrology in the Taiga Shield (Baker Creek watershed) Chris Spence - EC Describe and understand streamflow and geochemical regimes in the North Slave Taiga Shield present Partners: EC, GNWT ITR, GSC, WLU, Giant Mine remediation Team

33 Research Partnership: Tłįchǫ Aquatic Ecosystem Monitoring Program Fish, water and sediment are collected from one Tłįchǫ community each year Water Quality Analysis includes physicals, nutrients, total metals, ultra-low mercury and bacteriological. Sediment Analysis includes physicals and chemical properties as well as trace metals Field Program in Whati was supported-in kind through availability of technical staff and provision of water quality monitoring equipment. Partners: Tłłîchô Government, Wek èezhìi Land and Water Board, Wek èezhìi Renewable Resources Board, Department of Fisheries and Oceans NCP Contaminants and CIMP

34 Research Partnership: Marian Watershed Community-Based Aquatic Effects Monitoring Program Fish, water and sediment are collected from the Marian River Watershed each year in September. Objectives: To collect baseline data prior to development To monitor cumulative impacts of development and climate change in the basin To build community capacity To develop a strong communication plan 2014 Field Program was supported in-kind with the provision of water quality monitoring equipment and staff. Partners: Tłłîchô Government, Community of Behchoko, Wek èezhìi Land and Water Board, Wek èezhìi Renewable Resources Board, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, NCP Contaminants and CIMP.

35 ENR Waters Information Products Transboundary River Reports Slave River Liard River Peel River Hay River Community Brochures Network Reports Coppermine Lac de Gras Hydrometric Overview Reports Coppermine Gwich in/sahtu Deh Cho North Slave South Slave Nunavut

36 For More Information

37

38 Future Monitoring / Spatial Data Gaps Great Slave Lake Great Bear Lake More sites / frequency for Coppermine and Lockhart from Diamond Mines Groundwater monitoring in the Sahtu Small Basins (Fire Impacts / Permafrost degradation)

39 Future Monitoring /Temporal Gaps Freshet Sampling everywhere... Parameters: Need more than just chemistry... Fish + food web Chlor A + Algae blooms Ultra low metals and nutrients PAH's??

40 Research Project: Isotope Evaporation Dr John Gibson U of Waterloo Alberta Research Council at U Vic Natural isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen in water Lighter isotopes are preferentially removed; change in ratio 18O/16O & 2H/1H has been calibrated for evaporation rates Data from 1992 to 2008 Paper published in J.Hydrology Sampling continued in 2010 Pocket Lake and Salmita