What We Study & Why
Marine Programs measures wastewater flows, monitors for conventionals and other substances, checks surface water for fecal coliform levels and assesses the health of the seafloor and organisms living near each outfall. The monitoring and analysis follows a rigorous quality assurance and quality control regime in the field and in the laboratory that ensures the quality of the data collected.
The independent Marine Monitoring Advisory Group reviews all of the conclusions, and independent experts are often invited to conduct their own detailed analyses or to review the CRD data.
Substances monitored include measures of general water quality such as fats, oil and grease, biochemical oxygen demand and total suspended solids, as well as metals and other substances.
While CRD scientists monitor for over 200 substances, they only expect to find about half of them. Some occur naturally and others such as persistent organic pollutants (example = PCBs) remain in the environment long after they have been banned because they do not readily break down. Many of the substances detected are generally found in wastewater from any treatment plant, including those with secondary or tertiary treatment.
Conventional Substances
Conventional substances include general water quality parameters such as pH, nutrients, biochemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids and fecal coliform.
Metals & Chemicals
In general, metals and other substances monitored by Marine Programs fall into several categories:
Sediment Quality/Seafloor Organism Health
Monitoring at Macaulay and Clover Points and Saanich Peninsula includes an assessment of the health of the seafloor and organisms living near the outfalls, such as benthic organisms and mussels. A grab (i.e., a large scoop) is used to collect sediment, mussel and benthic organism samples from the seafloor near the outfalls as well as from reference stations.
The samples collected are analyzed for priority substances, e.g. metals, phenolic compounds and PAHs. The results are compared with guidelines that have been developed by government agencies to protect marine seafloor organisms. The health of the mussel and benthic seafloor organisms at the outfall stations is compared to those at the reference stations.