| Assessment |
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These
reports usually discuss the water quality of specific bodies
of water in British Columbia and are often conducted as
the first step in the production of Water Quality Objectives
for the body of water. |
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| Aquatic
Pathogen Essays |
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These
are a series of literature survey essays on a number of groups
of organisms which are to be found in water and may, under
some conditions at least, be pathogenic to man, livestock
and crops. The groups of organisms include protozoans,
helminth worms, viruses and related organisms, fungi, algae,
cyanophytes and bacteria. The essays include species lists,
scientific and common names, geographic and edaphic distribution,
life histories, control strategies, economic and health
related costs, paper and internet reference sources and
any other relevant data. |
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| Aquatic
Plants and Weed Documents |
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Considerable
research was carried out by the ministry on aquatic plant
distribution, ecology, growth and control in British Columbia.
The listed PDF documents include identification keys, distribution
data, control mechanisms, geographical and water chemistry
parameters affecting distribution, life histories, how
to collect and preserve aquatic plants, nutrient studies,
the effects of water storage dams on aquatic plants and
a chromatographic identification procedure. |
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| Best
Management Practices |
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These
are the current best practical and economical management
or engineering procedures which will reduce or eliminate
non-point source pollution. They must be real world techniques
which can be generally implemented and are subject to change
as technology advances. |
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| Brochures |
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These
are short, illustrated, generally non-technical introductions
to various water quality topics that are published from
time to time. |
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| Drinking
Water Audit |
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The
Auditor General published a report on drinking water in
BC and this report gives the response to this audit, indicating
how deficiencies will be addressed. |
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| Forest
and Range Management |
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The
management of forest and range activities, road construction,
use and maintenance, timber harvesting and silviculture,
grazing and recreation may substantially alter the water
quality, stream hydrology, sediment loading, stream characteristics
and aquatic biodiversity in watersheds. These are common
NPS sources. This document provides a bibliography of some
government documents, journal articles and conference proceedings,
from studies in watersheds throughout North America, on
the topics of forest and range management as it affects
water quality. |
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| Fraser
River Estuary Study and Monitoring Reports |
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The
Fraser River Estuary Study was set up to develop a management
plan for this highly urbanized area. In the course of this
work a great deal of data was collected on virtually all
activities which affected water and sediment quality and
body burdens in this large area. Many reports were written
documenting conditions at the time and these are posted
here as PDF documents. |
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| Guidelines
(Criteria) |
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These
are safe levels of contaminants for the protection of given
water uses. The full technical reports are not yet on-line
but the approved overview reports, which include a summary
table of the recommended guidelines for the protection
of the various water uses, will be found here. Draft guidelines
and a 90 day notice of when new drafts will be coming out
are also posted to make review and commenting on the documents
easier. |
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| How
To Documents |
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These
are procedural documents which document the necessary work
that must be done, data that is required, consultations
that are necessary and approvals that must be sought in
order to produce and publish Objectives, Guidelines, Assessments
and other water quality protection tools. |
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| No
Discharge Zones |
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Pleasure
craft sewage discharges can affect some sensitive and poorly
flushed water bodies. The ministry has recommended to the
federal government that certain water bodies be protected
under the Federal Pleasure Craft Sewage Pollution
Prevention Regulation as No Dump
Zones. This document identifies the
proposed water bodies to be protected, outlines the regulation
amendment process and specifies contacts to whom the public
may comment on this proposal. |
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| NPS
or Non-Point Source Pollution |
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Non-point
source pollution is the release of pollutants to surface
and ground waters from one or more activities spread over
a broad area; it is polluted runoff and not end-of-pipe
discharge. The NPS Action Plan outlines approaches to managing
NPS pollution to protect and improve water quality in British
Columbia. There are pointers to a number of good references
on these topics. |
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| Objectives |
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Water
quality objectives are established in British Columbia
on a site-specific basis. The objective can be a physical,
chemical or biological characteristic of water, biota or
sediment which will protect the most sensitive designated
water use at a specific location. There are reports on
the current conditions in specific waterbodies, what the
water in used for, who uses it and how much, an analysis
of the existing monitoring data and a protocol for future
monitoring of specified characteristics at specified times,
frequencies and locations. |
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| Protecting
Drinking Water Sources |
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Ensuring
consumers receive safe drinking water requires several
protection measures to be in place, these include: source
water protection, appropriate treatment, well-maintained
distribution system, trained operators and regular monitoring.
Protection of drinking-water sources include measures such
as: integrated watershed management, land use planning,
point and non-point pollution prevention, setting ambient
water quality objectives and ambient water quality monitoring.
The cause and effect relationship between land uses and
impacts on the quality of drinking-water sources is difficult
to determine and predict and is often confounded by numerous
natural processes. Assessment of water quality and land
use at the local watershed level and continued scientific
research is required to ensure the appropriate measures
to protect drinking-water sources are applied. |
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| Quality
Assurance and Control Reports |
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Laboratory
and field quality assurance and quality control data is
used to evaluate the quality and validity of water quality
monitoring data. QA/QC analyses identify the significance
of biases, chronic contamination, data variability and
field sampling or laboratory analytical and handling problems.
This helps to determine the quality of the data. |
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| Reference
Material |
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|
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This
large group of documents consists of general reference
material which may be of use to students and researchers
working in the field of water quality and includes a glossary
and animal food and water intake data. |
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| Resource
Inventory Committee |
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This
group of documents consists of species identification keys,
manuals of practice, standards and other reports which
dictate how acceptable environmental sampling must take
place in BC if the data is to be accepted and entered into
the database. |
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|
| Saanich
Inlet Study |
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The
purpose of the study was to determine the sensitivity of
Saanich Inlet to contaminants and marine habitat disturbances
from urban and rural development, and to determine the
capacity of the inlet to assimilate these contaminants
and marine habitat disturbances without environmental degradation.
Contaminants to be considered included those associated
with sewage effluents, urban and rural storm, drainage,
and agricultural runoff. The results of the Saanich Inlet
Study, in addition to the Regional Growth Management Study,
provided baseline information for consideration under the
Provincial Environmental Review of the Bamberton Development
Proposal. |
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| State
of Water Quality |
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Under
the Canada-British Columbia Water Quality Monitoring Agreement,
the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks (now called
Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection) and Environment
Canada have been monitoring water quality at selected locations
throughout the province since 1985. These reports summarize
the status and any changes in water quality at these locations
over time, make recommendations on remedial measures and
outline future monitoring requirements. |
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| Status
Reports |
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Clean,
healthy and safe land, water and air for all living things
is one of our goals. Water quality is an early indicator
of ecosystem health. This report is a snapshot of the 1996
status of our water quality and indicates how close we
were to achieving our goal. |
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| Trend
Reports |
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This
report analyzes the data in the water quality status report
and the state of water quality reports and documents the
apparent trends in water quality for selected water bodies
in British Columbia over the period for which there is
adequate data. |
