Qu'Appelle River Basin Research and Monitoring Committee

Committee Members

Vacant, Chairman

Alice Davis, Watershed Manager, Lower Qu'Appelle Watershed Stewards Inc. (LQWS)

Melissa Bramham, General Manager, Wascana & Upper Qu'Appelle Watersheds Taking Responsibility

Vacant, Watershed Manager, Moose Jaw River Watershed

Etienne Soulodre, Senior Agrologist, Water Security Agency

John Mark Davies, Water Quality Scientist, Water Security Agency

David Vandergucht, Ecologist, Water Security Agency

The Plan

To effectively achieve the water quality goals of the watershed plan, the committee developed a detailed research plan.

This plan is made up of a series of questions that must be answered to understand the magnitude of the nutrient sources, the impacts of these nutrients on lakes and effectiveness.

Four Steps....To the Research Plan

  1. What are the current nutirent loads in the Qu'Appelle River watershed?

  2. What are the proportional contributions of point and non-point nutrient sources?

  3. How important are in-stream and in-lake processes for changing nutrient concentrations?

  4. What nutrient levels will result in observable changes (improvements) in water quality?

Projects to address the Plan

  • Mass Balance Study

  • Municipal Waste Water Study

  • Ag Nutrient Contributions

  • Aquatic Macroinvertebrates


Our Projects

The Nutrient Loading into the Lower Qu'Appelle Watershed Study

Completed by Elena Diebel and Parker Trimp from the University of Regina. This study looks at the mass nutrient loading from municipal wastewater treatment systems that discharge effluent into the Qu'Appelle River Basin. from 53 communities. This report will assist us to develop a better understanding of the municipal sewage effluent has the quality of our watershed. In addition to this report as part of their study, Elena and Parker designed a reduction strategy for the Town of Indian Head Lagoon, which you will find at the end of the report. This part of their work was a project they had written as an requirement of the class. It is not and was not presented to the Town of Indian Head.


LQWS is pleased to present the Land Use and Water Quality Report. Global Institute For Water Security was commissioned to completed the report for LQWS.

As documented in the report this is a screening level assessment of the potential impacts of beneficial management practice (BMP) implementation in the Lower Qu'Appelle Watershed. It is limited by the lack of data on the effects of management at relevant scales and environmental conditions and should be viewed as a representation of what we might see rather than what we will see.

LQWS would like to thank our funding partners, Mosaic Potash, Wascana & Upper Qu'Appelle Watersheds Taking Responsibility and Water Security Agency.


Municpal Effluent Report 2017 2018 - Elena Diebel and Parker Trimp.pdf
QuAppelleLandUseWaterQuality.pdf

The Municipal Effluent project was completed by 3rd engineering students. This study determined the mass nutrient loading from municipal wastewater treatment systems that discharge effluent to the lower Qu'Appelle River basin. The mass loading into the watershed from 53 communities over a three year period (March 2013 to March 2016),

The objectives were to determine the nutrient loading from municipal effluent into the watershed, determine relative contributions and N and P between point and non-point sources. As part of the report the 2 individuals had to design nutrient reduction strategies for a community that releases high N and effluent concentrations as you will see in the report.

The City of Regina was the highest contributor however, since this study, the Regina Wastewater Treatment facility has upgraded its treatment plant. The old plant had an average effluent qualities of Phosphorous: 0.85 mg/L and Nitrogen: 36 mg/L. The new plant is required to have effluent qualities of Phosphorous <1 mg/L and Nitorgen 10 mg/L and Nitrogen 10 mg/L in the summer and 14 mg/L in the winter. It is noted that the treatment plant has met and exceeded this values.

LQWS would like to thank Elena Diebel and Parker Trimp from the University of Regina for their time and effort into the making of this report. The 53 municipalities, the individuals from the Water Security Agency, without the assistance from EPO's and the water quality team, this report would not have been possible.


The Qu'Appelle River Basin Committee will continue to focus on our critical questions within our plan to address concerns:

  • Mass Balance Study - To identify nutrient contributions from tributaries - is ongoing and anticipated to be completed in late 2018 or early 2019.

For questions or comments please call Alice Davis at 306.745.9774 or email at: alice.davis@lqws.ca