All Resources

Guide to Water Act authorizations required for excavations (dugouts, borrow pits and other types of pits/excavations) [2024]

Description

This document clarifies authorization and application requirements under the Water Act and the Water (Ministerial) Regulation where excavations into the ground are proposed. Typically, excavations... More ≫

Description

This document clarifies authorization and application requirements under the Water Act and the Water (Ministerial) Regulation where excavations into the ground are proposed. Typically, excavations into the ground that may trigger Water Act authorizations are dugouts, borrow pits, pits, or other pits/excavations. This guide does not address excavations that may be created for the purpose of drainage, flood control, erosion control, or channel realignment. Also not addressed by this guide is the issue of whether evaporative loss is considered a "diversion of water" under the Water Act.

Tags

Looking upstream : a 5-year review of Alberta’s monitoring, evaluation, and reporting (MER) plan for lotic systems

Description

This report provides a summary of activities conducted between 2016 and 2021 under A Five-Year Provincial Water Quality Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Plan for Lotic Systems (Kerr and Cooke... More ≫

Description

This report provides a summary of activities conducted between 2016 and 2021 under A Five-Year Provincial Water Quality Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Plan for Lotic Systems (Kerr and Cooke 2019). An overview of this first river water quality monitoring, evaluation and reporting plan is provided, along with an evaluation of key metrics of the program, including sampling details, parameters monitored, and quality assurance/quality control efforts. The report presents summary findings and identifies ongoing gaps related to scientific questions. Key issues and improvements are recommended for consideration in the development of the next monitoring, evaluation and reporting plan.

Tags

The WaterSHED monitoring program : technical progress report 2018-2021

Description

This is the second technical report from the multistakeholder WaterSHED water quality monitoring program of North Saskatchewan River Basin tributaries. The report includes a summary of program... More ≫

Description

This is the second technical report from the multistakeholder WaterSHED water quality monitoring program of North Saskatchewan River Basin tributaries. The report includes a summary of program operation, results from water quality sampling and flow monitoring, assessments of water quality relative to surface water quality guidelines, and quantification of mass export of several water quality parameters from tributaries across the basin. The report concludes with a review of program learnings realized during operation of the WaterSHED monitoring program and descriptions of ongoing and future work.

Tags

Alberta Environment and Protected Areas Indigenous Lake monitoring program evaluation report

Description

The Indigenous Lake Monitoring Program (ILMP) was developed in response to Indigenous communities’ concerns about the quality of lakes of local importance as well as the Community-Based Monitoring... More ≫

Description

The Indigenous Lake Monitoring Program (ILMP) was developed in response to Indigenous communities’ concerns about the quality of lakes of local importance as well as the Community-Based Monitoring & Knowledge teams’ mandate to explore opportunities to work together with Indigenous communities to advance environmental stewardship. The ILMP aims to support and enable stewardship and management of Alberta’s lakes based on the best available Indigenous and scientific knowledge. From 2016-21, staff from CBM&K, Watershed Sciences and Watershed Monitoring units within the Airshed & Watershed Stewardship Branch worked with community technicians from four First Nations (Bigstone Cree Nation, Cold Lake First Nations, Whitefish Lake First Nation, Dene Tha' First Nation) to collect and report on water chemistry, physical measurements, and biological samples on seven lakes in Northern Alberta. The ILMP Evaluation Report summarizes the findings of an independent evaluation of the ILMP...

Tags

Evaluation of quality control data from Alberta’s lotic water monitoring programs : 2016-2019

Description

This report investigates the bias and variability of data generated from the Long Term River Network (LTRN) and Tributary Monitoring Network (TMN) programs. In total, 323 field blank samples and... More ≫

Description

This report investigates the bias and variability of data generated from the Long Term River Network (LTRN) and Tributary Monitoring Network (TMN) programs. In total, 323 field blank samples and 318 duplicate samples were taken from nearly 100 stations across the province of Alberta. Data analyses relate these QC samples to 4,482 provincial LTRN and TMN environmental samples taken between January 2016 and December 2019. There was a wide range of potential contamination (i.e. bias) and variability evident in the parameters monitored in the TMN and LTRN programs. Data end-users should be cognizant of this potential bias and variability in data generated by the LTRN and TMN programs. Parameters with low environmental concentrations, elevated potential for extraneous contamination and/or high variability should be interpreted with caution.

Tags

Investigation into the source and variability of salinity in the Milk River, Alberta : in response to the winter limit exceedances under the South Saskatchewan Region-Surface Water Quality Management Framework

Description

This report focuses on the technical results of an investigation initiated to understand the behavior of total dissolved solids and specific conductance in the Milk River, as a result of Surface... More ≫

Description

This report focuses on the technical results of an investigation initiated to understand the behavior of total dissolved solids and specific conductance in the Milk River, as a result of Surface Water Quality Framework (SWQMF) limit exceedances. The report includes a brief description of the SWQMF process, a summary of Milk River salinity exceedances, and objectives and results of the investigation. Data appendices are also included.

Tags

The WaterSHED monitoring program (Water: Saskatchewan headwaters Edmonton and downstream) : technical progress report 2018-2019

Description

This is the first annual technical report from the multistakeholder WaterSHED water quality monitoring program of North Saskatchewan River Basin tributaries. The report includes an historical... More ≫

Description

This is the first annual technical report from the multistakeholder WaterSHED water quality monitoring program of North Saskatchewan River Basin tributaries. The report includes an historical background of the monitoring program, the technical approaches used to monitor water quality, quantity and ecosystem health of North Saskatchewan River Basin tributaries, and technical results (i.e., tables, graphs, maps) from the 2019 field season. It does not include an interpretation of results.

Tags

Guide to Water Act authorizations required for excavations (dugouts, borrow pits and other types of pits/excavations) [2020]

Description

This document clarifies authorization and application requirements under the Water Act and the Water (Ministerial) Regulation where excavations into the ground are proposed. Typically, excavations... More ≫

Description

This document clarifies authorization and application requirements under the Water Act and the Water (Ministerial) Regulation where excavations into the ground are proposed. Typically, excavations into the ground that may trigger Water Act authorizations are dugouts, borrow pits, pits, or other pits/excavations. This guide does not address excavations that may be created for the purpose of drainage, flood control, erosion control, or channel realignment. Also not addressed by this guide is the issue of whether evaporative loss is considered a "diversion of water" under the Water Act.

Tags

Synthesis report of the enhanced monitoring program on the Lower Athabasca River 2019-2020

Description

This document summarizes work completed for the Lower Athabasca River enhanced monitoring program for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. Data that has been generated from this program to date includes... More ≫

Description

This document summarizes work completed for the Lower Athabasca River enhanced monitoring program for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. Data that has been generated from this program to date includes surface water quality, sediment quality, fish health endpoints, and fish communities.

Tags

Chlorophyll-A filtration standard operating procedure

Description

This document describes the procedures, methods, and practices used by Alberta Environment and Parks Resource Stewardship Division personnel when filtering water samples for analysis of... More ≫

Description

This document describes the procedures, methods, and practices used by Alberta Environment and Parks Resource Stewardship Division personnel when filtering water samples for analysis of chlorophyll-a (chl-a) in phytoplankton after surface water sampling events. The procedures in this document are to be followed when filtering samples in the workplace laboratory or in the field. This document is a revised version of a previous procedure found in Section 2.7 of the Aquatic Ecosystems Field Sampling Protocols (Alberta Environment, 2006).

Tags