Sediment Dynamics And Implications For Sediment Associated Contaminants In The Peace Athabasca And Slave River Basins

Examines the mechanisms of natural riverine sediment production in the Northern River Basins Study area, together with the routine data for suspended sediment in the area's rivers, as background for the examination of sediment-associated contaminants. Topics examined include: the causative mechanisms and boundary conditions affecting the sediment regime, including area topography, geology, and hydrology; availability and adequacy of data on suspended sediments in the area; time trends of fluvial suspended sediment dynamics on a seasonal (open water and ice regime) and annual basis, over the long term, and in critical events; sediment sources, pathways, and fates, and sediment dynamics at basin-wide, reach, and site levels; sediment quality, including sediment-associated characteristics of pulp mill effluents and sediment-contaminant relationships; and implications for sediment-associated contaminants. Recommendations are made for monitoring and assessment of the sediment component of the area's ecosystem.

This book presents a comprehensive overview of the first longitudinal study of the downstream response of a major river to the establishment of a large hydropower facility and dams. Peace River, a northward flowing boreal river in northwestern Canada was dammed in 1967 and the book describes the morphological response of the 1200 km downstream channel and the response of riparian vegetation to the change in flow regime over the first forty years of regulated flows. Beginning with a description of the effect of regulation on the flow and sediment regimes of the river, the book proceeds to study changes in downstream channel geometry on the main stem, on the lowermost course of tributaries, and on the hydraulic geometry, the overall morphology of the channel, and riparian vegetation succession. The river is subject to annual freeze-up and break-up, so a chapter is devoted to the ice regime of the river. A chapter compares the effects of two extraordinary post-regulation flood events. The penultimate chapter presents a prediction of the ultimate equilibrium form of the regulated river based on rational regime theory. An online database of all the main observations will provide invaluable material for advanced students of river hydraulics and geomorphology. This book carefully brings together a range of studies that have been previously inaccessible providing a rare and comprehensive analysis of the effects of a big dam on a river, a river that itself represents an example of the kind of system that is likely to receive considerable attention in the future from dam engineers and environmentalists. • An invaluable reference to river scientists, hydroelectric power developers, engineers and environmentalists • Focus on a northward flowing boreal river, a type that holds most of the remaining hydroelectric power potential in the Northern Hemisphere • Exceptional separation of water and sediment sources, permitting study of the isolated effect of manipulating one of the two major governing conditions of river processes and form • Unique example of water regulation and both natural and engineered flood flows • Detailed study of both morphological changes of the channel and of the riparian vegetation • Online data supplement including major data tables and numerous maps. Details of the main observations and provides material for problem study by advanced students of river hydraulics and geomorphology are provided

"In the delta, water is boss, change is the only constant, and creation and destruction exist side by side." The Peace-Athabasca Delta in northern Alberta is a globally significant wetland that lies within one of the largest unfragmented landscapes in North America. Arguably the world's largest boreal inland delta, it is renowned for its biological productivity and is a central feature of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Yet the delta and its indigenous cultures lie downstream of Alberta's bitumen sands, whose exploitation comprises one of the largest industrial projects in the world. Kevin Timoney provides an authoritative synthesis of the science and history of the delta, describing its ecology, unraveling its millennia-long history, and addressing its uncertain future. Scientists, students, leaders in the energy sector, government officials and policy makers, and conscientious citizens everywhere should read this lively work.

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.

Presents the analytical results and spatial trends for the following contaminants in bottom sediment samples collected from northern Alberta rivers in 1994-95: polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurans, resin acids, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, chlorinated phenolics, polychlorinated biphenyls, extractable organic halides, toxaphene, and mercury. Sampling locations were chosen to provide broad coverage of both the Athabasca and Peace river basins, coverage of key mixing zones downstream from four pulp mills, and replication with locations sampled previously. The 1994-95 survey objectives included: determination of within-site variability in bottom sediment contamination; testing of the assumption that the sand fraction is not an important repository of contaminants; and providing a data set for comparison with earlier bottom sediment collections in 1988-89 and 1992.

Presents results of contaminant analyses of bottom sediments collected from the Peace and Athabasca river basins 1988-90 and 1992. Contaminant groups represented are the polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans, resin acids, chlorophenolic compounds, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Contaminant concentrations were correlated with percent organic carbon of the fine fraction (the fraction on which analysis was performed. Correlations between concentrations of bleached kraft mill related contaminants were also investigated and results are presented.