Water Quality

Water Quality Program Outline

The water quality monitoring program represents a successful partnership between the Township of The Archipelago, ratepayer associations, and numerous volunteers in areas along the coast and inland lakes that has lasted since its inception in 1999. The volunteer-based program provides an important avenue for relaying information about our environment to ratepayers and for providing valuable information to the Township.

The Township has partnered with the Georgian Bay Mnidoo Gamii Biosphere (GBB) on environmental programming, which includes coordinating the Township’s water quality monitoring program.

In 2016 the Township recommended changes to its water quality (WQ) monitoring program, with the main recommendation being a shift from bacteria to phosphorus monitoring. Over three years, as part of their Coordinated Nutrient Monitoring Program, GBB worked with partners to review existing nutrient monitoring efforts along eastern Georgian Bay and develop a new set of guidelines and recommendations to improve effectiveness and efficiency of the collective efforts of volunteers, associations, agencies and other organizations.

GBB is encouraging ratepayer associations and volunteers to join or continue with the Lake Partner Program (LPP) to monitor total phosphorus (TP) trends. The LPP is an Ontario-wide, publicly funded, free program that collects data about phosphorus, water clarity, calcium, and temperature from volunteers. The simple tests for TP and water clarity provide a strong basis for assessing the health of the ecosystem, and whether TP is too high or too low. Advantages of the LPP are that it facilitates comparisons with other organizations monitoring on the Bay, as well as Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) monitoring programs. Data collected by volunteers are analyzed by the Dorset Environmental Science Centre which makes all data available online.

If you are interested in becoming a water quality monitoring volunteer, please contact Katrina Krievins, Georgian Bay Mnidoo Gamii Biosphere, kkrievins@georgianbaybiosphere.com, 705-774-0978.

Water Quality Program Reports

*after 2018 water quality information is found in the annual Environment Report (see Program Updates & Reports tab)