Freshwater Quality Monitoring: Bay of Islands and Humber Valley, Newfoundland and Labrador ...

• Main Author: Atlantic Coastal Action Program ACAP Humber Arm
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: DataStream 2024
• Subjects: Canada; Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25976/sm6c-fy36; https://datastream.org/dataset/f3d65610-3e60-4f57-81aa-85a28f53b479

Freshwater monitoring serves an important role in observing any noticeable change in water quality, in any tested body of water. Water quality throughout the Humber Valley watershed is especially important as this watershed covers a large geographic region of western Newfoundland. These bodies of water are all found within close proximity to residential, commercial, and industrial sectors, and are heavily utilized for various recreational purposes, also providing valuable habitat for a variety of species found within this region. This comprehensive water quality database for the Humber Valley and Bay of Islands regions serves as a baseline dataset to provide future assessments of changes in water quality. This initiative has been made possible due to the Support from CURA H2O and the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Municipal Affairs and Environment ... : Monitoring sites were selected throughout the Humber Valley and Bay of Islands regions. The sites were selected based on the following factors: proximity of the freshwater source to industrial activity; proximity of the freshwater source to residential zones; distribution of sites so that most communities situated within the Humber Valley watershed had representation; recreational use; and, special ecological interest. Sites were tested using an YSI Professional Plus (Pro Plus) instrument, fitted with a temperature/conductivity probe, a dissolved oxygen probe, and a pH probe. The YSI meter was calibrated bi-weekly to ensure accuracy. At each site measurements were taken for: water temperature; dissolved oxygen; conductivity; specific conductivity; salinity; total dissolved solids; pH; and air temperature. Precipitation for 72 hours prior to testing was recorded from Environment Canada historic data website. ...