Developing indicators for regional water quality assessment: An example from British Columbia community watersheds

Abstract

An increased understanding of regional surface water quality and the key factors which differentiate regional from local differences is necessary for monitoring impacts such as mountain pine beetle infestation and related land management practices. This study develops a framework to identify water quality indicators which differentiate parameters influenced by rock type, by relatively short term anthropogenic activities, and those resulting from longer term climatic variability. Rock type was an overriding factor related to stream water chemistry in this British Columbia case study; with differences between watersheds differentiated by Ca, EC, Al and Fe. Grouping watersheds by their dominant rock type permitted the investigation of water quality with other watershed characteristics. The % forest cover, % pine cover, and dominant runoff processes demonstrated significant relationships with soluble cations, metals, turbidity and total organic carbon. Turbidity levels showed low variability, and relationships with mountain pine beetle were not strong; suggesting the need for more detailed data sets, selective monitoring of storm events, and longer term monitoring to improve predictive capacity. © 2011 Canadian Water Resources Association.