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Water Quality Assessment and Objectives Desolation Sound: Technical
Report
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Water Quality Assessment and Objectives Desolation
Sound: Technical Report
This document is one in a series that
presents ambient water quality objectives for British Columbia.
Water quality objectives are recommended to protect aquatic
life and primary-contact recreation in Desolation Sound. Provincial
water quality objectives are not used for shellfish classification
and harvesting which is the mandate of the federal Canadian
Shellfish Sanitation Program. Water quality objectives, rather,
are used as an indicator for aquatic health which includes
the ability for shellfish growing and harvesting values.
There are a variety of human activities in the watershed which
could degrade water quality. Of primary concern are the relatively
high concentrations of recreational boaters utilizing Desolation
Sound and potentially discharging wastes directly into the Sound,
especially embayed areas with limited flushing. As the data used
in this report is limited, additional sampling would be required
to more fully document the nature of these effects and to determine
attainment of the water quality objectives specified for the
protection of the most sensitive water use.
Because of its large size, the Desolation
Sound Water Quality Report is broken into two files for ease
of access:
Main report (PDF: 1.57 MB / 45 pages)
Appendices (PDF:
307 KB / 47 pages)
Updated: November 2005
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