Tributary Monitoring in the Lesser Slave Watershed

The Lesser Slave Watershed covers the geographic area that drains into Lesser Slave Lake, eventually flowing into the Lesser Slave River before joining up with the main stem of the Athabasca River.  As suggested by the Integrated Watershed Management Plan, sampling takes place on the 5 main tributaries of Lesser Slave Lake.  An upper, mid and lower sampling site were selected for each tributary.  

Annual sampling begins at the end of April or early May each year depending on when the ice breaks up.  The goal is to complete 10 sampling events each year between April and November at each of the 15 locations.

The LSWC has equipment for 2 field crews to measure temperature, pH, conductivity, and dissolved oxygen. These parameters are measured in the field each time samples are collected along with other field observations like air temperature.  At this point in time we are focusing on collecting baseline annual data and do not have any periodical synoptic studies planned. 

The LSWC’s Lesser Slave Watershed Management plan recommends a long-term water monitoring strategy for the watershed. This program will help us achieve the water quality target outlined in the plan:

“Water quality in tributaries to Lesser Slave Lake, and in the Lesser Slave River, should meet provincial water quality guidelines established to protect fish and other aquatic life, as well as meet needs of human use (e.g., water supplies, aesthetics, recreation, waste assimilation).”

Goals for this program include:

• Collect baseline data for tributaries contributing to Lesser Slave Lake;
• Evaluate water quality condition by comparing it to available federal and provincial water quality guidelines and objectives for varying uses (e.g., irrigation, contact recreation, aquatic life), and reference conditions; 
• Collect long-term suspended sediments data that can be used to identify the sources of suspended sediment and transport mechanisms in the Lesser Slave watershed;
• Maintain long-term records to examine trends in relationship to land cover and land use activities in the watershed;
• Collect data that will be useful for refining water quality model calibrations, and calculating sediment load and nutrient budgets. Studies regarding sediment transport and nutrient loading to Lesser Slave Lake (AMEC 2005; Hutchinson et al. 2015) have been limited by the low frequency, density, and inconsistency of water monitoring activity in the watershed.