| 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 Skeena River at Usk, and forms the basis of the recommendations and site-specific guidelines presented here. The Skeena River rises in the northern part of the province of British Columbia and flows about 580 km before emptying into Chatham Sound on the Pacific Ocean. It is the second largest river in the province and a premier salmon-fishing area. Forestry is the major land use within the Skeena basin which is followed by minor influences on the environment from mining, agriculture, urban land use related activities. The following table provides a summary of the recommended site-specific water quality guidelines (SSGs). 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. 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. |
