{"id":6841,"date":"2021-06-04T22:23:47","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T22:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/versicolor.ca\/sandylakebedford\/?p=6841"},"modified":"2021-06-04T22:28:54","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T22:28:54","slug":"water-quality-monitoring-policy-plan-approved-by-hrm-standing-committee-sampling-would-include-sandy-lake-4jun2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/sandylakebedford\/2021\/06\/04\/water-quality-monitoring-policy-plan-approved-by-hrm-standing-committee-sampling-would-include-sandy-lake-4jun2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Water Quality Monitoring Program approved by HRM standing committee, sampling would include Sandy Lake 4Jun2021"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

An unpleasant algal bloom in Sandy lake in early August of 2019 was an “early warning sign” that the lake is in a precarious state. View DRAFT Report On the State of Sandy Lake, the Historical Trends and its Future Trajectory <\/a>(David Patriquin, Feb 23, 2021)<\/p><\/div>\n

Good News!!!<\/strong> Yesterday, this motion was approved by the Environment and Sustainability Standing Committee:<\/a><\/p>\n

That the Environment and Sustainability Standing Committee recommend that Halifax Regional Council direct the Chief Administrative Officer to adopt and implement a detailed water quality monitoring program based on Framework 1 as outlined by AECOM in their Water Quality Monitoring Policy and Program Development Report, as outlined in the Discussion section of the staff report dated May 6, 2021.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

View Draft Minutes<\/strong><\/a> of the June 3 meeting<\/p>\n

View Video of the ESSC meeting<\/a><\/strong>, June 3, 2021<\/p>\n

So evidently the next step is for Halifax Regional Council to consider the recommendation.<\/p>\n

More Details<\/strong><\/p>\n

View May 6, 2021 Staff Report<\/strong><\/a>. From that Report:<\/p>\n

The proposed monitoring program would consist of sampling 74 lakes on an annual basis, with the number of sampling events determined based on lakes\u2019 priority concerns and vulnerability (i.e. risk of harmful algae bloom, high chloride concentration, historical E. coli contamination, or other risks from land use). Class A lakes are listed as high vulnerability and Class b is moderate vulnerability. Water quality would be tested using routine parameters for lake trophic status, chloride levels, and important observational information such as ice in\/out, presence of algae blooms, invasive species or nuisance aquatic plant growth. These baseline parameters, especially when collected over several seasons, and when compared to previous study findings, will provide the Municipality with a foundational understanding of lake health. This will be critical to informing management and land development strategies.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View Presentation: Lake Water Quality Monitoring Program<\/strong><\/a> (PDF, 12 slides)<\/p>\n

View Halifax Regional Municipality Water Quality Monitoring Policy and Program Development<\/strong><\/strong><\/a>
\nPrepared by: AECOM Canada Ltd., Sep 2020 99 pages + Appendices.<\/p>\n

Sandy Lake is one of 25 Priority Lakes recommended in the AECOM (2020) Report for regular monitoring to represent one or more of three Water Quality vulnerabilities \u2013 chloride, eutrophication and bacteria.<\/p>\n

Some components of the monitoring that would\u00a0 apply to Sandy Lake as a Class A\/High Vulnerability Lakes as cited in\u00a0AECOM (2020)<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The core monitoring design is focused and includes monitoring of a single, fixed station in a central deep lake location, once in spring during mixed-water column conditions and once at the end of summer; additional stations for lakes with complex morphometry\/distinct basins.<\/em><\/p>\n

Frequency and Timing: 2-year rotation<\/em>
\nClass A \u2013 High Vulnerability Lakes have 2 sampling events per year at each lake<\/em>
\n\u2022 once in spring during mixed-water<\/em>
\ncolumn conditions<\/em>
\n\u2022 once at the end of summer<\/em><\/p>\n

Routine monitoring parameters are selected that provide strong indicators of eutrophication and chloride enrichment that can be compared against numerical objectives and targets. Routine parameters include:<\/em>
\n\u2022 Secchi depth;<\/em>
\n\u2022 Lake depth at the sampling location;<\/em>
\n\u2022 Profiles of field measurements at 1-m depth intervals from the lake surface to 1-m off the lake bottom\u00a0<\/em>for standard parameters (i.e., temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen concentration, specific conductivity);<\/em>
\nand<\/em>
\n\u2022 TP concentration and Chlorophyll a (as a euphotic zone composite).<\/em><\/p>\n

Additional parameters or sampling that may be triggered to further assess water quality issues and inform potential modeling exercises, include:<\/em>
\n\u2022 Chloride concentration \u2014 to be analyzed in a discrete sample collected at one metre off the lake bottom (1 MOB) \u2013 triggered if dissolved oxygen concentration is less than 1 mg\/L and specific conductivity exceeds 450 microsiemens per centimeter (\u03bcS\/cm) at 1 MOB in spring. This specific conductivity is approximately equivalent to the CWQG for chloride concentration of 120 mg\/L for the protection of aquatic life from chronic exposure (see Chloride Enrichment section below).<\/em>
\n\u2022 TP concentration (1 MOB) \u2014 to be analyzed in a discrete sample collected at 1 MOB \u2014 triggered if dissolved oxygen concentration is less than 1 mg\/L at 1 MOB at end-of-summer.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The spring and end-of summer profile sampling especially welcomed, as that is what\u2019s needed to detect possible impairment of spring turnover at Sandy Lake by salt stratification, as discussed in the\u00a0 DRAFT Report On the State of Sandy Lake, the Historical Trends and its Future Trajectory<\/a> (David Patriquin, Feb 23, 2021).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good News!!! Yesterday, this motion was approved by the Environment and Sustainability Standing Committee: That the Environment and Sustainability Standing Committee recommend that Halifax Regional Council direct the Chief Administrative Officer to adopt and implement a detailed water quality monitoring … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sandy-lake"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/sandylakebedford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/sandylakebedford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/sandylakebedford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/sandylakebedford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/sandylakebedford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6841"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/sandylakebedford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6848,"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/sandylakebedford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6841\/revisions\/6848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/sandylakebedford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/sandylakebedford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/sandylakebedford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}