| Abstract/Description or Keywords |
THIS DOCUMENT is one in a series that presents ambient site-specific water quality guidelines (SSGs) for British Columbia and the Yukon. This Executive Summary includes tables listing site-specific water quality guidelines for the purpose of reporting on one water use: protection of aquatic life. The main report presents the details of the water quality assessment for the Alsek River above Bates River, and forms the basis of the recommendations and site-specific guidelines presented here. The Alsek River is 275 km long and rises on the east slope of the St. Elias Mountains in the Yukon. It flows south out from the Yukon’s Kluane National Park and Reserve in a winding course through Yukon, British Columbia, and Alaska before entering the Gulf of Alaska, at Dry Bay, in the Pacific Ocean. A designated heritage river, the Alsek River supports several key cultural and recreational values including, kayaking and rafting, wilderness camping, and hiking. The following table provides a summary of the recommended site-specific water quality guidelines (SSGs) for the Alsek River. The SSGs specify a range of values for characteristics (variables) that may affect aquatic life water use. These values are maximum, mean, and/or minimum values that are not to be exceeded. The maximum concentration means that a value for a specific variable should not be exceeded; 30-day average concentration means that a value should not be exceeded during a period of 30 days, when five or more samples are collected at approximately equal time intervals. However, this statistic also can be used for yearly mean values or mean values over a period of record. |
