Sandy Lake & Environs (Bedford, Nova Scotia)

Deep water oxygen levels in Sandy Lake towards the end of the summer stratification period.  (Click on image for larger version.) The latest measurements, by St. Mary’s University limnology folks, recorded the lowest values yet observed. All of these data, and other Water Quality data we collected or compiled were ignored in the NS Gov/HRM Background Studies for Sandy Lake. View Post of July 25, 2025 for more details.
Click on image for a larger version
Update Nov 13, 2025: For the SL Volunteer observations, I modified the symbols to show which observations were conducted in collaboration with and according to the protocols of the HRM LakeWatchers Porgram. That followed a discussion with a Clayton Developments rep. at the open house in which he expressed concerns about our methodology and commented that their own observations have not shown similar low oxygen values. Note that all of the low oxygen values were observed by academic researchers or by Sandy Lake Volunteers in collaboration with the Halifax LakeWatchers program.  The anomalously high value in 2023 occurred following heavy precipitation/flooding which disrupted the summer stratification; the values dipped again the next year. Even in 2023, the peculiar “Metalimnetic Oxygen Minimum” in shallower waters was retained, and was recorded (but not commented on) by Stantec in their Watershed Report – see  Comments Doc, Fig 1, page 3, and Section 5B, pages 13-15