Leah Kongsrude reviews the process and results from a state of the watershed study on the Sturgeon River in north central Alberta. The Sturgeon River is a prairie river that is a tributary to the North Saskatchewan River just north of the City of Edmonton. St. Albert is a small city adjacent to Edmonton, where the Sturgeon River flows. She reviews the issues of watershed management in prairie Canada and how that is reflected in recent studies in the Sturgeon River watershed. Those projects led to a state of the watershed report funded by the City of St. Albert for the whole Sturgeon River watershed (even though St. Albert is only influences a small part of the river). She describes the indicators used in the study to grade the health of the Sturgeon River watershed. For a highly developed watershed with most of the population concentrated in urban areas, it is probably not a surprise the health of the watershed was fair. Rapid urban growth, preventing loss of limited natural areas and reducing pollutants were the key issues. Main recommendation was to establish a stakeholder group, focused on the municipalities. Watershed education to citizens on their personal impacts on their watershed and water bodies was important. The health of rivers and lakes is a reflection of how well a municipality is doing their land-use planning. Data gaps illustrate how far we have to go in tracking what we do on the land and water. She concludes by pointing out that past examples of municipal cooperation around water management issues are good indicators of how cooperative watershed management among municipalities can lead to watershed management success stories.
Leah Kongsrude is the Environmental Manager with the City of St. Albert, Alberta. Her presentation was part of the Lake Management Workshop sponsored by the Mayatan Lake Management Society and the North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance at Carvel, Alberta on June 19, 2013.
