Water Stewardship Information Sources
| ID | 1441 |
|---|---|
| Citation | Phippen, B. 2002. Water Quality Assessment of Salmon River at Salmon Arm (1985-2000). BC Ministry of Environment and Environment Canada. |
| Organization | Ministry of Environment |
| URL | http://waterquality.ec.gc.ca/WaterQualityWeb/PDFDocs/BC08LE0004.pdf |
| Abstract/Description or Keywords | This report assesses fifteen years of water quality data from the Salmon River. The Salmon River watershed is located within the Interior Plateau of south-central British Columbia. The sampling site is located at Highway 1, near the town of Salmon Arm, B.C.. Known errors were removed and the plotted data were compared to B.C. Environment's Approved and Working Criteria for Water Quality (MELP 2001a, 2001b). Of special interest were water quality levels and trends that are deemed deleterious to sensitive water uses including drinking water, aquatic life, fish and wildlife, recreation, irrigation and livestock watering. CONCLUSIONS ﾕ The hydrograph for the Salmon River is typical of interior B.C. streams, with flows dominated by a snow-melt freshet in May and June. ﾕ Values in excess of water quality guidelines for metals such as aluminum, cadmium, cobalt, copper, iron, and manganese were likely a result of occasional high concentrations of particulate matter (as evidenced by high turbidity levels). This means that these metals were probably not bio-available and would be removed by the treatment needed before use as drinking water. ﾕ The Salmon River had a low sensitivity to acid inputs (was well-buffered), as evidenced by high alkalinity and calcium concentrations. Both of these parameters showed strong seasonal fluctuations associated with water level. ﾕ Fecal coliform concentrations were generally much higher than the guideline for drinking water undergoing disinfection only, although the sampling frequency was insufficient to determine if the guideline was exceeded. ﾕ Dissolved organic carbon and true colour values frequently exceeded the drinking water guideline at this site ﾕ Detection limits used to analyze metals such as cadmium and silver were too high to accurately assess these metals in comparison to the appropriate water quality guideline. In addition, laboratory problems with cadmium prior to August 2000 render data collected before this time unreliable. Different methods should be employed in the future to allow these data to be compared to water quality guidelines. ﾕ Fluoride concentrations occasionally exceeded the aquatic life guidelines. ﾕ Salmon River water had relatively high hardness, frequently exceeding the optimum aesthetic range for drinking water. ﾕ Phosphorus concentrations were relatively high at this site, and may be contributing to eutrophication in Shuswap Lake. ﾕ Water temperatures exceeded maximum aesthetic drinking water guidelines in all but one of the 13 years on record (1988 - 2000), and the general fisheries guideline was exceeded in about half of the summers. ﾕ Turbidity values were frequently above guideline levels ﾕ There may have been a slight increasing trend in chloride, magnesium and potassium over the period of record. The reason for these increases is not clear. We recommend monitoring be continued for the Salmon River near Highway 1. It is an important tributary to the Shuswap Lake, and has high fisheries values. Water quality indicators that are important for future monitoring are: ﾕ flow, water temperature, specific conductivity, pH, ﾕ total dissolved phosphorus, total dissolved nitrogen, periphyton chlorophyll-a, ﾕ dissolved oxygen, fecal coliforms, chloride, ﾕ colour (true and total absorbance), turbidity, hardness, dissolved aluminum, total and dissolved or extractable cobalt, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc. ﾕ Low-level cadmium, hexavalent and trivalent chromium, and silver. |
| Information Type | report |
| Regional Watershed | Shuswap |
| Sub-watershed if known | Salmon River |
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| Comments | |
| Project status | complete |
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