Rebirth of Water 2018-2019
Continued water quality monitoring throughout the City of Saint John and the Greater Saint John area helps to gain insight into the aquatic habitats that these watercourses provide, as well as their safety for recreational use for humans. The watercourses that have had continuous monitoring this year include: Marsh Creek, Inner Harbour, Newman’s Brook, Caledonia Brook, Alder Brook, Hazen Creek, Taylor Brook, Salmon Creek and Mispec River. Additional sampling sites were added this year on the west side of the City, which include Mill Creek, Spruce Lake Stream, Walker Creek, Mosquito Cove, Manawagonish Creek, and Dominion Park. These new locations were added this year to more accurately portray the water quality of the city’s waterways as a whole. Overall, the watercourses included in this year’s sampling all continue to have the capability to provide sufficient aquatic habitats for various forms of aquatic life. There are several factors that potentially affect the water courses such as stormwater runoff, sanitary sewer overflows and riparian degradation. The stormwater runoff and riparian degradation as well as the hot, dry weather led to elevated temperatures and slightly decreased dissolved oxygen levels as compared to previous years. On average, most sites this year saw an increase in orthophosphate concentration when compared to previous data. At this time, there is no official guideline or recommendation for orthophosphate levels in place. The considerable improvements of water quality parameters for aquatic life seen in Marsh Creek since the completion of Harbour Cleanup in 2014 solidifies that the funding and resources put into the project were much needed. The most notable difference in the water quality is the dissolved oxygen concentrations, although lower in 2018 than 2017, they are still above the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment guideline recommended concentration of 6.5 mg/L on average at all the sites sampled.
Continued water quality monitoring throughout the City of Saint John and the Greater Saint John area helps to gain insight into the aquatic habitats that these watercourses provide, as well as their safety for recreational use for humans. The watercourses that have had continuous monitoring this year include: Marsh Creek, Inner Harbour, Newman’s Brook, Caledonia Brook, Alder Brook, Hazen Creek, Taylor Brook, Salmon Creek and Mispec River. Additional sampling sites were added this year on the west side of the City, which include Mill Creek, Spruce Lake Stream, Walker Creek, Mosquito Cove, Manawagonish Creek, and Dominion Park. These new locations were added this year to more accurately portray the water quality of the city’s waterways as a whole.
Overall, the watercourses included in this year’s sampling all continue to have the capability to provide sufficient aquatic habitats for various forms of aquatic life. There are several factors that potentially affect the water courses such as stormwater runoff, sanitary sewer overflows and riparian degradation. The stormwater runoff and riparian degradation as well as the hot, dry weather led to elevated temperatures and slightly decreased dissolved oxygen levels as compared to previous years. On average, most sites this year saw an increase in orthophosphate concentration when compared to previous data. At this time, there is no official guideline or recommendation for orthophosphate levels in place.
The considerable improvements of water quality parameters for aquatic life seen in Marsh Creek since the completion of Harbour Cleanup in 2014 solidifies that the funding and resources put into the project were much needed. The most notable difference in the water quality is the dissolved oxygen concentrations, although lower in 2018 than 2017, they are still above the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment guideline recommended concentration of 6.5 mg/L on average at all the sites sampled.
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Table 2. Characteristics <strong>of</strong> sampling stations on the West side <strong>of</strong> the City <strong>of</strong> Saint John.<br />
Site<br />
GPS<br />
Stream Name<br />
Site Description<br />
Number<br />
Coordinates<br />
24 Mill Creek 45.27860<br />
-66.15567<br />
Located <strong>of</strong>f the Westfield Road across the street from<br />
the Saint John Marina.<br />
25<br />
Spruce Lake<br />
Stream<br />
26 Walker Creek<br />
27<br />
28<br />
Manawagonish<br />
Creek<br />
(Downstream)<br />
Manawagonish<br />
Creek<br />
(Upstream)<br />
29 Mosquito Cove<br />
45.25356<br />
-66.14397<br />
45.25276<br />
-66.13110<br />
45.24445<br />
-66.10737<br />
45.24355<br />
-66.10259<br />
45.26929<br />
-66.11284<br />
Located on the left-hand side <strong>of</strong> the street (Westfield<br />
Road) heading West; head down the embankment<br />
and sampling occurred near the culvert.<br />
Located on the left-hand side <strong>of</strong> the street (Bay Street)<br />
heading west; head down the embankment and<br />
sampling occurred near the culvert.<br />
Located <strong>of</strong>f <strong>of</strong> Fairville Boulevard near the Comfort Inn<br />
parking, turn into the MelMart parking lot and park<br />
towards the end. Head down the embankment until<br />
the creek is reached.<br />
Located <strong>of</strong>f <strong>of</strong> Honeysuckle Drive, a weir is located on<br />
the outside <strong>of</strong> the street. <strong>Water</strong> was sampled 100 m<br />
upstream <strong>of</strong> the weir.<br />
Located on the right-hand side <strong>of</strong> the street (Green<br />
Head Road) heading towards Milford; head down the<br />
embankment and sampling occurred near the culvert.<br />
30 Dominion Park<br />
45.26889<br />
-66.1253<br />
Located at the Dominion Beach park.<br />
<strong>Water</strong> Quality Parameters<br />
<strong>Water</strong> quality parameters measured included dissolved oxygen, pH, salinity, orthophosphates, total<br />
suspended solids, and fecal coliform. Historically, ammonia concentration, nitrates, and turbidity had also<br />
been recorded for the upstream and downstream (Analysis A) sampling locations and as such, this year<br />
ammonia concentrations were reintroduced to the monitoring program. Ammonia and turbidity tests<br />
were last performed during the 2007 testing period while nitrates were only measured during the 2003<br />
testing period.<br />
Dissolved oxygen (DO) refers to the amount <strong>of</strong> oxygen dissolved in water and is usually represented in<br />
milligrams per litre (mg/L) or percent saturation. Oxygen is introduced into a watercourse via the<br />
atmosphere and photosynthesis. DO is temperature sensitive as cold water can hold more dissolved<br />
oxygen than warm water; however, at any given temperature moving water will typically have higher<br />
concentrations <strong>of</strong> dissolved oxygen due to churning. Oxygen consumption reduces DO in a watercourse<br />
and this occurs through respiration by aquatic animals, decomposition <strong>of</strong> organic material by<br />
microorganisms, and chemical reactions. When DO levels decline too much this can cause harm or death<br />
16 | P age
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