Articles	Projects	Resume	Cartoons	Windsurfing	Paintings	Album

A yearlong water quality baseline study is underway thanks to the support of the South Islands Aquatic Stewardship Society. Judith Burke's study was supposed to get started in April, but was stalled because Fisheries Renewal was late in getting the agreements out. As a result, Burke is just getting started now, with the equipment for the project arriving this week. "It was hard for everyone who's proposals were accepted to have to wait," Burke said, "but it's very exciting to start now."

Burke's study will include testing three sites, one at the De Mamiel Bridge, one at the bottom of the Sooke Potholes, and one near the Sooke Flats. She will check the sites once per week for 12 months, testing the water quality as it relates to salmon. "The focus is on the nutrient levels," she said. Burke said this will be a crucial study for future land-use changes and urban development. "There has been different testing in the basin and in the lake, but there hasn't been a study of this magnitude on the Sooke River and the De Mamiel Creek, only spot testing so far," she said. The study will include four interim reports, and will look at a number of factors, including physical properties of water, dissolved gases, nutrients, some metals and other data. Down the road, this study can be used to analyze the impacts of logging, new roads, and other types of development in the area.

The South Islands Aquatic Stewardship Society, a delivery agent for fisheries enhancement funds, is now accepting more proposals for projects to be paid for by Fisheries Renewal BC's salmonid renewal program. SIASS is a link that helps people with great ideas help get the funding they need from the province to get started. Successful proposals are expected to get under way in the fall. Applications will be accepted only until August 13th. They are open to anyone, from environmental scientists like Burke to high-powered firms.

"I live in Sooke, and SIASS has shown me that it's a community-based organization encouraging community-based projects," Burke said. Burke is being paid $21,000 for her project. In addition, $10,000 will go towards paying for the scientific equipment and chemicals that she'll need.

SIASS has been an incorporated society for just under a year and is looking to expand so that it is no longer government supported. "We're looking at a bigger picture. Governments come and go. We have a diverse group with a common goal," SIASS CO-chair Wally Vowles said.

This year, $50,000 was to be available through SIASS from Fisheries Renewal for fish enhancement projects. But thanks to a BC Hydro donation of $2 million for British Columbia, SIASS can now provide about $130,000 this year. "We were sort of expecting it," Vowle's said. "BC Hydro funded the projects last year as well, and they were happy with the success we had. We were confident that they would fund us again."

Recently SIASS was criticized by a former federal fisheries officer, who said too many dollars were being spent on studies and not enough was being done to actually save fish. Vowle's said studies and reports were necessary. "It's important to do assessment work before you start anything," he said. "Lots of people say they're useless studies, but it's an essential step."

Burke will be conducting her studies every weekend, and invites people to come to the three locations and ask questions.

• Research and Development Automated Water Quality Monitoring Project on the Sooke River

• Testing the Waters Story in Sooke News Mirror, March 28, 2001 about the Automated Water Quality Monitoring Project

• Twelve Month Baseline Water Quality Study for Salmonids in the lower Sooke River Watershed (Victoria Times Colonist Enviro News)

• Twelve Month Baseline Water Quality Study for Salmonids in the lower Sooke River Watershed (Sooke Mirror)

• Twelve Month Baseline Water Quality Study for Salmonids in the lower Sooke River Watershed Final Report by Waterose

• Water Quality Project on Musqueam Salmon Stream in Urban Vancouver

• Analysis of Coliforms and Nutrients in surface waters flowing into Esquimalt Lagoon

• Water Quality Monitoring on Ayum Creek, a wild salmon and trout bearing stream, for Society for the Protection of Ayum Creek and Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

email Waterose

Please Sign My Guestbook
Please View My Guestbook

Search this site powered by FreeFind

Site Map What's New Search

---

Articles	Projects	Resume	Cartoons	Windsurfing	Paintings	Album

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws