Water Stewardship Information Sources

Citation Epps, D. 2008. Water quality assessment and objectives for the McKelvie Creek community watershed: Technical Report. BC Ministry of Environment.
Organization Ministry of Environment
URL http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wat/wq/mckelvie-creek/mckelvie-tech.pdf
Abstract/Description or Keywords The Ministry of Environment is conducting a program to assess water quality in
designated community watersheds. Community watersheds are defined under the Forest
Practices Code Act of BC as “the drainage area above the point of diversion and which
are licensed under the Water Act for waterworks purposes”. These watersheds are
generally small (<500 km2
) and the stream response times are short with minimal
opportunities for dilution or settling. The purpose of this program is to accumulate the
baseline data necessary to assess water quality and to establish ambient water quality
objectives on an individual community watershed basis. Water quality objectives
provide policy direction for resource managers, serve as a guide for issuing permits,
licences, and orders by the Ministry of Environment, and establish benchmarks for
assessing the Ministry’s performance in protecting water quality.
There are over 60 community watersheds within the Vancouver Island Region of the
Ministry of Environment. Rather than developing water quality objectives for each of the
watersheds on an individual basis, an ecoregion approach has been implemented. The
ecoregion areas are based on the ecosections developed by Demarchi (1996). However,
for ease of communication with a wide range of stakeholders the term “ecoregion” has
been adopted by Vancouver Island MOE regional staff. Thus, the Vancouver Island
Region has been split into 11 terrestrial ecoregions (six on Vancouver Island), based on
similar climate, geology, soils, hydrology etc. (Figure 1).
Due to accessibility and holding time of samples only the six ecoregions on Vancouver
Island are being considered at this time. Fundamental baseline water quality should be
similar in all streams and all lakes throughout each ecoregion. However, the underlying
physical, chemical and biological differences between streams and lakes must be
recognized. Representative lake and stream watersheds within each ecoregion are
selected (initially stream focused) and a three year monitoring program is implemented to
collect water quality and quantity data, as well as biological data. Standard base
monitoring programs have been established for use in streams and lakes, to maximize
data comparability between watersheds and among ecoregions, regardless of location. This report examines the existing water quality of McKelvie Creek and recommends
water quality objectives for this watershed based on potential impacts and water quality
parameters of concern. McKelvie Creek, located on the west coast of Vancouver Island,
is a second-order stream, 10.2 km in length, draining into the Tahsis River just north of
the Village of Tahsis, BC. The portion of the watershed designated as a community
watershed is 2,111 ha in area, and includes the upper portion of McKelvie Creek above
the Village of Tahsis water intake (Figure 2). The intake is located approximately 1 km
upstream from the confluence of McKelvie Creek and the Tahsis River. McKelvie Creek
has significant fisheries values, with steelhead present in the creek, and likely a number
of other species as well (FISS 2005).
Anthropogenic land uses within the watershed include timber harvesting and recreation
which, in addition to natural erosion and wildlife, can potentially affect water quality in
McKelvie Creek.
One water quality monitoring location was selected within the McKelvie Creek
watershed. Site E230718 is located upstream from the main water intake (Figure 2).
Water samples were collected once in early 1998, five times in early 1999, five times in
the fall of 2001, on an almost monthly basis from July 2002 to June 2005, and weekly for
five consecutive weeks during the summer low flow and fall high flow period from 2002
to 2004. Water samples were then sent to a laboratory for analyses of fecal coliforms, E.
coli, turbidity, non-filterable residue, temperature, true colour, specific conductivity, pH,
nitrate and nitrite, total phosphorus, and metals concentrations. Continuous monitoring
data was collected from June 2003 to December 2004. Parameters monitored were
turbidity, conductivity, and temperature. The project consisted of five phases: water
quality data collection, gathering information on water use, determination of land use activities that may influence water quality, assessment of water quality based on land use
influences and establishment of water quality objectives.
Information Type report
Regional Watershed Vancouver Island North
Sub-watershed if known McKelvie Creek, Tahsis River
Aquifer #
Comments
Project status complete
Contact Name
Contact Email