Water Stewardship Information Sources
| Citation | Hart, S. 2006. Water supply and water quality monitoring in the Homathko River basin. Prepared for Nature Conservancy of Canada. |
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| Organization | Nature Conservancy of Canada |
| URL | http://www.natureconservancy.ca/assets/documents/bc/tatlayoko/Water_Supply_and_Quality_Monitoring_in_the_Homathko_Rive.pdf |
| Abstract/Description or Keywords | The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has an interest in maintaining high water quality and adequate water supply in the upper Homathko basin, both for human use and for protection of aquatic habitat. This study was initiated by NCC to provide baseline hydrologic information that could be used for analysis of trends in water quality and supply and for evaluation of potential impacts on water resources. Hydrologic data will also serve as a foundation for further scientific research in the basin, a function which the Nature Conservancy is undertaking to support. In rural basins without intensive land uses (such as feedlots or high density subdivisions), the causes of water quality deterioration are typically numerous, individually minor, and widely dispersed. For example, sources of sediment related to land use activities can be disturbed channel banks, exposed field soils, compacted surfaces, roads, and drainage and irrigation ditches. Because rural water quality declines due to additions from many such sources, it is difficult for government agencies to regulate practices to maintain water quality. The most effective watershed management occurs where community residents take the responsibility upon themselves. In fact, there’s little likelihood of maintaining high water quality without active local involvement. To be successful at this effort, knowledge of the nature and magnitude of water supply and water quality conditions is required. An additional cause of water quality and water supply change in the Homathko basin will be climate change. A warming climate could result in hydrologic effects such as an increasing proportion of winter precipitation as rain, earlier spring runoff, diminishing meltwater supply from alpine snowpatches and glaciers, and a prolonged summer low flow period with warmer temperatures causing higher rates of evaporation and transpiration (e.g., http://www.env.gov. bc.ca/air/climate/indicat/timevol_id1.html for further information). As has been found elsewhere in the province (Leith and Whitfield, 1998), such changes may already be underway in the Homathko basin. Climate change could place increasing pressure on water resources and necessitate especially careful water management practices. As a landowner in the basin, and having a particular interest in water conservation, the NCC is seeking to collect information about current water quality and water supply conditions in order to support their own and other landowners’ efforts to protect this resource. The objectives of this year’s program are the following: • to measure precipitation variation within the basin at snowcourses and rain gauges located to supplement the existing network of stations; • to collect baseline watershed hydrology and water quality data at representative stations; • to establish a water quality laboratory and analyze selected parameters for samples collected; and • in a final report, to provide a description of the Homathko basin, to report the 2006 season’s research methods, and to present analyses of the hydrometeorologic and water quality data. |
| Information Type | report |
| Regional Watershed | Central Coast |
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| Project status | complete |
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