Water Stewardship Information Sources
| Citation | Tri-Star Environmental Consulting. 2005. Site-specific water quality guidelines for the Sumas River at the international boundary for the purpose of national reporting. Prepared for Envrironment Canada. |
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| Organization | Environment Canada |
| URL | http://waterquality.ec.gc.ca/WaterQualityWeb/PDFDocs/BC08MH0027%20-%20sumas.pdf |
| 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 Sumas River, and forms the basis of the recommendations and site-specific guidelines presented here. The Sumas River is located in an intensive area of agriculture, both upstream from the international Boundary in the United States, and downstream in Canada. However, the river is also an important rearing area for salmonids. There appear to be an increasing trend in sulphate concentrations, as well as hardness. In addition, nitrate concentrations may also be increasing although such a trend would have to be confirmed with further statistical evaluation. The river does have high nutrient concentrations, mostly associated with suspended solids during autumn and winter rainfall events. THE FOLLOWING TABLE provides a summary of the site-specific water quality guidelines (SSGs) recommendations. To protect water uses in a waterbody, SSGs specify a range of values for characteristics (variables) that may affect these uses. 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; mean concentrations imply 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. |
| Information Type | report |
| Regional Watershed | Lower Fraser |
| Sub-watershed if known | Sumas River |
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| Project status | complete |
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