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If you have any questions on the information presented, or require additional report data or attachments, please contact the Report Contact
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This document presents the result of monitoring done in 1996-97 to check the attainment of objectives set by the Mnistry of Environment, Lands and Parks.
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Author: Water Quality Branch, Water Management Division, Ministrry of Environment, Lands, and Parks
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Date Published: Aug 1999
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Report ID: 11317
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Audience: Government and Public
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This report assesses the 1996-97 attainments of ambient water quality objectives set by the Mnistry of Environment, Lands ad Parks. The setting of water quality objectives in priority basins in British Columbia began in 1982. By
the end of 1997, the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks had set water quality objectives
in 46 bodies of water, both fresh and marine, throughout the Province. Annual monitoring to
check the attainment of objectives started in 1987. This report presents the results of monitoring
done in 1996 and 1997 to check the attainment of objectives in 15 basins (1996) and 14 basins
(1997). Due to budgetary restraints, the program has been considerably as compared to previous
years.
The results are summarized in a series of tables. For all Ministry Regions the objectives were
met 81 percent of the time in 1996 and 77 percent of the time in 1997. The findings in 1996 and
1997 are slightly less than the 1995 figure (83%), and also less than previous years when
attainment ranged from 94 percent in 1987 to 83 percent in 1995. The declining attainment is in
part due to the fact that the reduced sampling effort is focused in areas where a problem is
expected or uncovered.
There was not 100 percent attainment because objectives are set in areas where water quality
problems may occur. Monitoring results therefore reflect the state of water quality in areas
affected by human activity rather than in the Province as a whole.
Variables for which objectives were sometimes not met in three or more basins in each of the
1996 and 1997 basins included; fecal coliforms, E.coli, suspended solids, chlorophyll-a (a
measure of algal growth in lakes and streams), total phosphorus in lakes, and dissolved oxygen.
The objective for dioxins and furans in fish to protect fish from chronic toxic effects was also not
met in the Columbia River. In addition, the guideline for human consumption was not met in one
of the sampled fish, although it is estimated that this fish was not representative of the river due
to its age.
In 1995, the Ministry developed a water quality index to help interpret objectives attainment
data. The index reduces the water quality information, as tabulated in this report, to a simple
category or rank describing the state of water quality in a body of water. The index is applied to
the 1996 and 1997 data to rank some of the water bodies in this report (where there is sufficient
data to do so). (Middle Quinsam River, Tsolum River, Nechako River, Fraser River (from the Source to Hope), Williams Lake, San Jose River, Okanagan Valley Lakes, Similkameen River, Hedley Creek, Cahill Creek and Tributaries, Bessette Creek, Tributaries to Okanagan Lake near Vernon, Thompson River, Columbia River (from Keenleyside to Birchbank), Fraser River (Kanaka Creek to the Mouth), and Burrard Inlet)
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Report Type
Subject
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Water Information - Water Quality |
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