Northern River Basins Study Project Report

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.

Provides a summary of flow and lake level information for water bodies in the Peace, Athabasca, and Slave river basins to provide a hydrologic background for many of the other reports in the Northern River Basins Study series. It examines trends in river flows for both the main stems and significant tributaries; for lake levels, both natural and regulated conditions are examined. Ice processes are also discussed along with some of the environmental effects.

The Northern River Basins Study Board will be formulating recommendations covering many areas likely of consequence or interest to basin residents. To assist the Board in this task, a series of projects was initiated to survey the residents on their use of northern river basins waters. Existing information was either not available or as extensive as required. This report details the background work undertaken to devise a survey instrument and strategy to capture for households a representative cross-section of information on water use and resident attitudes toward the water resource. The report also assesses the most effective means for approaching and obtaining information from stakeholder groups. The appendix includes the project terms of reference, a description of how the population stratification method could be applied for the survey, and a draft questionnaire.

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.

An important component of the Northern River Basins Study was the original data resulting from the collection and analysis of environmental samples. Samples were collected, stored, and analysed by a number of different agencies, and an inventory of samples obtained by the Study and results data were compiled into a single electronic database to ensure future ease of access to the original data. This report describes the data contained in the database, the methods used to compile the database, the media and the nature of the samples, the collection site, and the data collected. Information is provided on which analyses were conducted on samples as well as the values of various parameters measured for the samples. All the files and the data fields that comprise the database are described in the users' guide in the report appendix.

The Northern River Basins Study Board will be formulating recommendations covering many areas likely to be of consequence or interest to basin residents. To assist the Board in this task, a series of projects was initiated to survey the residents on their use of northern river basins waters. This report details the efforts undertaken to develop a list of stakeholders that should be approached for input in a workshop setting. These efforts included designing a stakeholder questionnaire, conducting a telephone survey, and analyzing the data. It also reviews the survey results, including the types and membership of stakeholder groups, use of river basins, water management and water use concerns, and preferred location and time of the proposed workshops. The appendix includes a copy of the questionnaire and a directory of stakeholder groups in the survey sample (by category).

Describes the administration of a survey of northern Alberta river basin stakeholders on water management issues. Stakeholders included municipal governments, industries, agricultural associations and service boards, commercial fishermen and recreation business owners, river transportation operators, trappers, and general stakeholders such as environmental groups, recreational clubs, Aboriginal organisations, and professional associations. Information is included on the identification of stakeholder groups, questionnaire design, survey implementation, and data entry and coding. The appendix, forming the bulk of the document, includes copies of questionnaires sent to the various stakeholder groups and details on coding of the computer data files.