Water Quality Assessment and Objectives Desolation Sound: Technical Report
This document is one in a series that presents ambient water quality objectives for British Columbia. Water quality objectives are recommended to protect aquatic life and primary-contact recreation in Desolation Sound. Provincial water quality objectives are not used for shellfish classification and harvesting which is the mandate of the federal Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program. Water quality objectives, rather, are used as an indicator for aquatic health which includes the ability for shellfish growing and harvesting values.
There are a variety of human activities in the watershed which could degrade water quality. Of primary concern are the relatively high concentrations of recreational boaters utilizing Desolation Sound and potentially discharging wastes directly into the Sound, especially embayed areas with limited flushing. As the data used in this report is limited, additional sampling would be required to more fully document the nature of these effects and to determine attainment of the water quality objectives specified for the protection of the most sensitive water use.
Because of its large size, the Desolation Sound Water Quality Report is broken into two files for ease of access:
Main Report (PDF/1.57 MB/45 pages).
Appendices (PDF/307 KB/47 pages).
UPDATED: novemer 2005
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