Status of air and water in the Lower Athabasca region – Alberta Government
Status of the Lower Athabasca Region Surface Water and Air Quality Management Frameworks since 2012.
Air and water are routinely monitored as part of the environmental management frameworks for the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan. With objectives, indicators and thresholds, the management frameworks outline the process to collect and analyze air and water data. The management frameworks also include response procedures if thresholds are exceeded.
Update: Management framework indicators are reported on every two years for approved regional plans.
Status of Ambient Condition and Management Response
Status of Surface Water Quality 2016
Status of Surface Water Quantity 2015 and 2016
Status of Management Response Air and Surface Water Quality as of October 2017
Monitoring results
Here are the monitoring results for the Lower Athabasca region from the Government of Alberta:
Surface water quality
2016 – No limits exceeded; warning triggers exceeded for dissolved lithium, dissolved uranium, sulphate, dissolved cobalt, dissolved lithium and dissolved uranium.
2015 – No limits exceeded; warning triggers exceeded for sulphate, dissolved uranium and dissolved strontium.
2014 – No limits exceeded; warning triggers exceeded for sulphate, potassium, dissolved cobalt and dissolved uranium.
Air quality
2016 – No limits exceeded; warning triggers exceeded for nitrogen dioxide and/or sulfur dioxide at a few monitoring stations.
2015 – No limits exceeded; warning triggers exceeded for nitrogen dioxide and/or sulfur dioxide at a few monitoring stations.
2014 – No limits exceeded; warning triggers exceeded for nitrogen dioxide and/or sulfur dioxide at a few monitoring stations.
Monitoring results from 2012
The 2012 results for air and surface water monitoring are available from the Government of Alberta. It was the first annual monitoring report. Although there were no air or water quality limits exceeded, early warning triggers were crossed at some monitoring stations for:
- Air: nitrogen dioxide and/or sulfur dioxide at ten monitoring stations (potentially from forest fires, wind conditions or anthropogenic emission sources).
- Surface water: total nitrogen, dissolved lithium and dissolved uranium above trigger levels at one monitoring station (potentially due to changes in river flow).
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