Rivers are nature’s sewers, flushing away runoff from agriculture,
forestry, industry and urban areas.
And as soon as rivers start to flow each spring, teams from Alberta’s
agriculture and environment departments begin monitoring quality within
800 watersheds.
“Despite the fact that our criteria is extremely small, most of the
watersheds did pretty well,” said biologist Jamie Wuite of Alberta
Agriculture.
The monitors measure bacterial counts, fecal coliform, common nutrients
such as nitrogen and phosphorus, and more than 40 pesticides.
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- itrogen and phosphorus often have the greatest effect on water quality.
“We can’t differentiate from the sources, so it could be manure, it
could be fertilizer,” Wuite said.
A water quality index has been developed to provide consistency when
comparing watersheds.
Initiatives targeting single basins are also under way. In southern
Alberta, The Oldman River Water Quality Initiative is in its fifth
year, relying on the expertise of a group of concerned rural and urban
people.
The initiative was spurred by public concerns over water quality near
large feedlots, hog barns and other intensive livestock feeding
operations.
The program discovered that contaminants come from many sources.
In more heavily populated areas, water tends to carry more pesticides
from lawns and more fecal coliform bacteria.
“Fecal coliforms are not only from a concentrated feeding operation,
said Joanne Little, of the Oldman River Initiative at the group’s
annual meeting in Lethbridge last month. “They could be from wildlife
or other sources.”
During its next five years, the initiative plans to implement water
management practices to reduce pollutants.
It has defined three goals:
- Reduce the amount of contaminants such as microbes, nutrients and
pesticides that enter the Oldman system. High levels of pesticides like
2,4-D from products like Killex are common in urban areas.
- Develop an expanded inventory of land use, water quality and
vulnerability, and analyze the relationships among the three.
- Increase awareness and education among residents in the basin.
The City of Lethbridge encloses educational information with utility
bills that explains why people must take more responsibility for water
quality by reducing the use of garden pesticides and fertilizers.
The Yellow Fish Road program involves community youth groups that
paint storm drains to caution people about pouring everything from
soapy water to used motor oil down the drain and into the rivers.
Developers must include erosion control plans in their building permits
and plans because sediment is a major problem in storm drains.
Calgary’s storm water project is not as well developed as the
Lethbridge program, said Mark Bennett of the Bow River Basin Council,
which was formed in 1991.
While pollution problems were noted, the issue of storm drains
contaminating watercourses was not recognized until 1999.
“Urban storm water has to be approached on a watershed basis,” Bennett
said.”It cannot be solved on a patchwork basis. What works in Calgary
may not work in smaller settings.”
