Gordon Dinwoodie, Land Reclamation Specialist, presents the ESRD program updates for 2014.
His presentation focuses on the changes to the Environmental Guidelines for Surface Water. This document was last updated in 1999, and recent changes include an expansion and update of the protection of aquatic life, an update on guidelines for agricultural use, and an update on surface water for recreation and aesthetic purposes.
During the improvement of this document, a jurisdictional review of provincial and federal approaches in Canada was done. The US and European Union approaches were also considered, and the most appropriate and relevant guidelines were then used for Alberta.
The guidelines are based on scientific testing, such as toxicology reports, and not based on social or economic factors. This collection of guidelines was created to be used for ambient monitoring programs, managing a particular water body, and to develop water quality objectives.
The changes to the document includes information on new metal contaminants such as boron, cobalt and uranium, ten new pesticide guidelines, stricter guidelines about chloride and different guidelines on how to test for sulphate. The changes to agricultural guidelines were almost all related to irrigation, including electrical conductivity and the sodium absorption ratio. The new guidelines also expand upon and clarify definitions and principals, and descriptions on the use and application of the guidelines.
This presentation was a part of the Canadian Land Reclamation Association Alberta Chapter AGM and Conference, in February 2014.
