An Assessment Of Non Conventional Drinking Water In The Peace Athabasca And Slave River Basins

Assesses the utilization and quality of the different non- conventional sources of drinking water used by people in the Northern River Basins Study area. Such sources include rain water, melted snow or ice, untreated surface water, dugout water, groundwater, bottled water, and water treated by various point-of-use technologies. The assessment included a literature review on non-conventional drinking water sources, drinking water quality, and the correlation between drinking water and health; interviews with area residents on their non-conventional drinking water practices; collection of field samples of non-conventional drinking water and analysis of samples for various physical, chemical, and microbiological parameters; and research on the effectiveness of some of the portable point-of-use drinking water treatment filters on the market.

Presents results of site visits to 38 water treatment facilities located in the Northern River Basins Study area along the Peace, Athabasca, and Slave rivers. The 38 sites selected for the visits (out of 180 treatment facilities in the area) represent an overall cross-section of the types of facilities found in the area, based on existing data regarding raw water source, treatment process used, size of facility, and treated water quality. Parameters reported include turbidity, microbial contamination, trihalomethane, temperature, pH, conductivity, colour, and ammonia. Plant operating practices, sampling routines, and chemical dosing strategies are also reported.

The NTBS was designed to address the ecological concerns about pulp mill expansion, and to increase scientific knowledge about environmental conditions [ecology, ecosystem sustainability, water pollution and control, habitat, effect on fish and fishing, etc.] in the major river systems of the north. The study's objectives were to gather and interpret sound scientific information about the basins, develop appropriate recommendations for basin management, and communicate effectively with the public. The government response report confirms the governments' commitment to ecosystem sustainability and to pollution control in northern rivers. First Nations and Metis aboriginal [native] peoples contributed significantly to the NRBS.

This report summarizes the results of a project conducted to gather existing information about drinking water quality, drinking water facilities, and water treatment effectiveness in the area covered by the Northern River Basins Study (Peace, Slave, and Athabasca River basins in northern Alberta). The report includes a comparison of water treatment performance to the Canada Drinking Water Quality Guidelines. The appendices contain summaries of parameters in the treated water survey, of the comparisons between raw and treated water, and of samples not meeting the Guidelines, as well as an inventory of treatment facilities giving facility name and location, water source, community population, treatment method used, raw storage capacity, and treated volumes.

Lists Northern River Basins Study technical reports by issue number, subject, and geographic area studied. Subject areas used to classify the reports are: hydrology/hydraulics, nutrients/dissolved oxygen, contaminants, food chain, drinking water, other uses, traditional knowledge, and synthesis and modelling. Ten geographic divisions are used: three each for the Athabasca and Peace Rivers, and one each of the Wapiti/Smoky rivers, Peace-Athabasca Delta, Lake Athabasca, and Rivière des Rochers/Slave River.

As part of a survey of residents of northern Alberta river basins, respondents were asked to choose the best and worst examples of various sets of threats to water quality/quantity in the basins as well as best and worst examples of possible management actions. This report analyses the responses to the two sets of best/worst questions, using logistic regression. The analysis produced the following estimates: the probability that each of 11 possible threats to water quantity/quality will be selected as the area of most concern; and the probability of each of 11 possible management actions will be selected as the most effective response to such concerns. The probabilities produced by this analysis are ranked to determine the preferences of northern households and various stakeholder groups within the basin.

The objective of this report is to compile and synthesise existing information from government and industry sources on the nature of liquid effluents from municipalities and non-pulp mill industries in northern Alberta river basins. Information was obtained from 16 continuously discharging municipal sewage treatment plants, 77 periodically discharging sewage plants, and 62 licensed industrial discharges such as oil sands plants, coal mines, cement plants, and wood products operations. Information presented includes: description of wastewater treatment methods used; releases of treated sanitary wastewater; quantity and quantity of sewage treatment plant data; characteristics (chemical, nutrient, microbial, toxicological) of sanitary wastewater discharges; industrial effluent characteristics; and impacts on the aquatic environment. Gaps in the data are also identified.

Report to the federal ministers of Environment and Indian & Northern Affairs, Alberta's Minister of Environmental Protection, and NWT's Minister of Renewable Resources. Summarises the main scientific findings of the Northern River Basins Study, which was established to examine the relationship between industrial, municipal, agricultural, and other development and the Peace, Athabasca, and Slave River basins. Reviews the characteristics of the northern river basins and their peoples, the organisation of the Study, and major findings in the areas of environmental overview, use of aquatic resources, traditional knowledge, flow regulation, fish distribution and habitat, nutrients, dissolved oxygen, contaminants, drinking water, ecosystem health, modelling, human health, and cumulative effects. Recommendations by the Study Board, First Nations, and scientific advisors regarding such issues as basin management, monitoring, research, public participation, and a successor organisation are then presented. Also includes a summary of opinions, suggestions, and recommendations expressed at 17 community workshops held throughout the northern river basins area.