| Title | Predicting water quality in Canada: mind the (data) gap |
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| Author | Miller, C B; Cleaver, A ; Huntsman, P; Asemaninejad, A; Rutledge, K; Bouwhuis, R; Rickwood, C J |
| Source | Canadian Water Resources Journal 2022 p. 1-7, https://doi.org/10.1080/07011784.2021.2004931 |
| Image |  |
| Year | 2022 |
| Alt Series | Natural Resources Canada, Contribution Series 20220391 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; digital; on-line |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Canada; British Columbia; Alberta; Saskatchewan; Manitoba; Ontario; Quebec; New Brunswick; Nova Scotia; Prince Edward Island; Newfoundland and Labrador; Northwest Territories; Yukon; Nunavut |
| NTS | 1; 2; 3; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 20; 21; 22; 23; 24; 25; 26; 27; 28; 29; 30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35; 36; 37; 38; 39; 40; 41; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47; 48; 49; 52; 53; 54; 55; 56; 57; 58; 59; 62; 63; 64; 65;
66; 67; 68; 69; 72; 73; 74; 75; 76; 77; 78; 79; 82; 83; 84; 85; 86; 87; 88; 89; 92; 93; 94; 95; 96; 97; 98; 99; 102; 103; 104; 105; 106; 107; 114O; 114P; 115; 116; 117; 120; 340; 560 |
| Lat/Long WENS | -141.0000 -50.0000 90.0000 41.7500 |
| Subjects | Science and Technology; Nature and Environment; water quality; Databases |
| Illustrations | location maps |
| Program | CanmetMINING - Green Mining Innovation-Processing Environmental Protection and Climate Change Adaptation |
| Released | 2022 08 16 |
| Abstract | CanmetMINING, Natural Resources Canada, is in the process of developing a nation-wide baseline water quality database that compiles datasets from 14 different federal and provincial governments, water
boards, conservation authorities, and private companies across the country and is continuing to expand. The objective of this project is to evaluate spatial and temporal changes in water quality and model the impacts of climate change on baseline
water quality, now and into the future. To date, this project has standardized and aggregated more than 800,000 water quality records from more than 16,000 unique sampling sites, spanning 8 decades. This two-year process has highlighted a number of
challenges with compiling a nation-wide database for research applications under the current model of water quality reporting in Canada. In light of these challenges, this commentary will highlight our observations as well as provide insights to
inform future standardization of water quality reporting. This is particularly timely given the proposed development of a Canada Water Agency (CWA), whose goal is to promote collaboration between water management authorities, subject matter experts,
and citizen scientists to “keep our water safe, clean and well-managed”. This commentary provides insightful observations and lessons to support the ongoing development of the Canada Water Agency, a national data management strategy, and the future
of water quality monitoring in Canada. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
CanmetMINING, Natural Resources Canada, is in the process of developing a nation-wide water quality database that compiles datasets from 14 different
federal and provincial governments, water boards, conservation authorities, and private companies across the country. To date, this project has standardized and aggregated more than 800,000 water quality records from more than 16,000 unique sampling
sites, spanning 8 decades. This two-year process has highlighted a number of challenges with compiling a nation-wide database for research applications under the current status of water quality reporting in Canada. This commentary highlights our
observations as well as provides insights to inform future standardization of water quality reporting. This commentary is particularly timely, given that the federal government is working to establish a Canada Water Agency (CWA) with the goal to
promote collaboration between different levels of government, Indigenous communities, and scientists to "keep our water safe, clean and well-managed" (ECCC, 2020). We believe that our amalgamation, standardization and preliminary analyses of
historical water quality data can provide insightful observations and lessons, to inform the ongoing development of the Canada Water Agency. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 331118 |
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