NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: South Slave Region

Tags: water monitoring

Objective(s): 1. To add baseline water quality and fish data for the Slave River at Fort Smith and for the Fort Smith Métis Council (FSMC); and, 2. Have this work led by the Northwest Territory Métis Nation (NWTMN).

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No. 5691. The objectives of this project are to add baseline water quality and fish data for the Slave River at Fort Smith and for the Fort Smith Métis Council (FSMC) and Northwest Territory Métis Nation (NWTMN) to lead this work. Fort Smith community members have expressed concerns about cumulative effects on the transboundary reaches of the Slave River. The FSMC and NWTMN have been collaborating with the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) Department of Environment and Climate Change (ECC) on the water quality and fish monitoring at Fort Smith, along with the University of Calgary and Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU). The FSMC has identified research questions and priorities to investigate knowledge and monitoring gaps to expand on other programs in the Slave River at Fort Smith. This grant is focused on starting the process of evolving collaboration so that data collection, analysis, and reporting are led by the community. To avoid duplication with related programs (e.g., NWT Community-based Water Quality Monitoring and Alberta-NWT transboundary-related monitoring), the focus will be on winter sampling for water quality which is outside of the current timeframes for existing programs. Water quality sampling will focus on use of polyethylene membrane devices (PMDs) to monitor polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and surface grab samples for metals, nutrients, microbiological, and routine parameters. Fish monitoring will focus on pickerel health, contaminant body burdens (PAHs and metals in muscle), and stable isotope tracing to determine movement patterns. PAHs, nutrients, and metals are among the primary substances of concern from upstream developments, and are already monitored in June, July, and August by other programs. In this project, PMDs will be deployed throughout the remainder of the year to monitor PAHs. When safe, PMDs will be deployed directly in the Slave River during open water using the same protocols as in the NWT Community Based Monitoring (CBM) program. PMDs are attached to a buoy which is anchored in the river, where the PMD sits ~1 m below the surface. To address community concerns about water quality, grab samples will be collected from the Slave River upstream and downstream of the landfill and sewage lagoon during spring when there may be surface water discharging into the Slave River below the landfill and late summer when Slave River flows have receded near to base flow conditions. In addition to grab samples, conductivity scans will also be conducted using a multiparameter sondes to delineate mixing zones. Dilution factors for the sewage lagoon will be determined using information from the MVLWB registry. Dilution factors for the landfill will be determined by taking flow measurements at the outflow to the Slave River. Pickerel will be sampled during the spring, fall, and winter for metals and PAHs in muscle to assess consumption risks, whole organism endpoints (e.g., condition factor, size at age, size at maturity, gonadosomatic index, liver somatic index) to assess reproductive health of fish as indicators of stress, and stable isotopes in muscle to assess residency. Sampling will be conducted using Environmental Effects Monitoring (EEM) protocols, which is consistent with the approach followed for Transboundary fish monitoring. Other species such as northern pike, burbot, lake whitefish, longnose sucker, and goldeye are typically caught as bycatch and will also be sampled using the same protocols as for pickerel. Results will be shared with Fort Smith community members annually. One objective of the project is to establish annual one-page results reports that are in plain language. In addition, annual reporting will be conducted, and results will also be shared at Slave River and Delta Partnership meetings, through presentation and videos, which have been occurring annually. Ryan and Jon will lead the reporting of results. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from: July 15 - December 31, 2023