Central Sub-watershed: Conditions and Indicators

This section provides an overview on the Conditions and Indicators for the South Saskatchewan River – Central sub-watershed. Water monitoring in this sub-watershed is performed by Environment Canada (Station Number AL05AK0001) on the South Saskatchewan River at Highway 41 – (downstream) of the City of Medicine Hat, and near the Alberta-Saskatchewan border.

This monitoring of river flow and quality is performed as part of Alberta’s commitment to the Master Agreement on Apportionment. The Agreement provides for an equitable sharing of available waters for all eastward flowing streams that cross interprovincial boundaries, including interprovincial lakes. It also serves to protect interprovincial aquifers and surface water quality. If you would like to learn even more about environmental and watershed indicators, we recommend “Indicators for Assessing Environmental Performance of Watersheds in Southern Alberta.”

Water Quantity
Water quantity for this sub-watershed is measured by Environment Canada on the South Saskatchewan River at Highway 41, as part of Alberta’s commitment to the Master Agreement on Apportionment. Read more… about apportionable and recorded flows for the South Saskatchewan River near the Alberta-Saskatchewan border (source: Prairie Provinces Water Board) Water Quality

Water Quality Indicators

The other Water Quality indicators for this sub-watershed are based on the number of times that recorded measurements over a one year period “exceeded” the Water Quality Objectives (WQO) for that indicator at this location.

The rating (condition) of these water quality indicators are based on the following scale:

• 0% of recorded measurements exceeded the WQO level = NATURAL condition (blue)
• 0.1% to 10% of recorded measurements exceeded the WQO level = GOOD condition (green)
• 10.1 to 50% of recorded measurements exceeded the WQO level = FAIR condition (yellow)
• more than 50% of recorded measurements exceeded the WQO level = CAUTIONARY condition (red)

 

South Saskatchewan River – at Highway 41

Click on any of the indicator names below, for more detailed historical data for that indicator.

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	Water Quality Objective (WQO)
Total Dissolved Solids							The WQO for TDS at this location is 500 mg/L
Total Phosphorus							The WQO for Total Phosphorus at this location is 0.05 mg/L
Bacteria: E.coli							No single measurement exceeding a count of 100 E.coli per 100 mL