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By Veronica Beltran

river map

New interactive map allows British Columbians to view river quality trends across B.C.

Aug 29, 2020 | 1:01 PM

VICTORIA–You can now see how healthy rivers across B.C. are, with a new user-friendly tool.

Using an interactive map of B.C., people will now be able to view 10-year water quality trends in certain rivers with data compiled from the Canada-B.C. Water Quality Monitoring Program. The program has been in place since 1985. Data collected is also used to determine the current status of water quality, detect emerging issues that may threaten aquatic life and support the development of guidelines for water, fish and sediment.

“Water quality is a pretty complicated topic.”–Ayisha Yeow, senior water quality monitoring scientist, Environment Canada and Climate Change B.C.

“The new website gives people a glimpse into how we look at the data and we explain what that means. I hope it gets people engaged and learning more about water quality so they can relate it to what they see when they’re enjoying the river,” adds Yeow.

She says that every river is different and that they all have complicated systems that are affected by a variety of stressors such as, human development and climate change. The Province says that scientists are investigating what exactly is driving the change, but an increase in sediments due to changes in streamflow may be a factor.

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“As British Columbians, we are very fortunate to have plentiful and pristine freshwater resources. However, I don’t think we should take that for granted.”–Lucie Thomson, unit head for ambient surface water quality monitoring, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy

“We have over 30 years of information, which is very important for understanding current conditions, changes in our freshwater ecosystems and the potential sources of those changes. It helps form policy and is the basis for water stewardship,” adds Thomson.

To check out the new website and new interactive map click here.