Water Quality & BioMAP/Benthic Monitoring
Two programs that are completed in conjunction with the Ministry of Environment are the surface water quality monitoring and the groundwater monitoring programs. Surface water quality sampling is done eight times a year at 35 locations across the watershed. The samples are sent to Ministry of Environment Labs for chemical analysis. Annually, water samples are collected from ten groundwater wells located throughout our watershed. Data loggers record water level on an hourly basis. GSCA downloads this data and submits it to Ministry of Environment. Data from these sampling programs is entered into a Provincial databases. GSCA also collects water samples for chemical analysis from other smaller watersheds. Follow this link to view GSCA Water Quality Data in a new window or use map below, which is incorporated into Watershed Report Cards.
Benthic/BioMAP Monitoring
BioMAP is a monitoring protocol for sampling and evaluating the benthos (bugs) living in the stream substrate. Some of these bugs are very specialized and require specific water quality conditions to complete their life cycle. BioMAP assigns scoring to each species based on their sensitivity to changes in their environment. The presence or absence of these sensitive bugs affects the overall score for each sample. These scores help us to determine if the site is impaired, unimpaired or in transition for one state to the other. During late summer or early fall conditions, samples are collected from 15 long term monitoring sites located throughout our watersheds. This data is also incorporated into our Watershed Report Cards.