Chemainus River watershed: Water quality report for the 2023/24 wet season

Executive summary

Water is essential for life, and steps are needed to understand, protect and restore its health in fish habitat throughout British Columbia. The Raincoast Healthy Waters program was launched in 2023 to establish community-oriented water pollution monitoring in select BC watersheds. 

Two Healthy Waters sampling events take place every year in each watershed, the first in the dry season (summer), and the second being in the wet season (winter). This report highlights results from the first wet (winter) season sampling carried out with the support and participation of Halalt First Nation. Briefly, the Healthy Waters – Halalt team determined basic water properties (temperature, conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen and turbidity) in situ at sampling sites on December 11, 2023. 

Water samples were collected from five water categories, including source water (3 sites), stream and river water (3 sites), road runoff (3 sites), and tap water (10 samples). Marine water samples (3 locations) were collected on February 6, 2024. Samples were pooled by water category and analysed for coliform, metals, nutrients and physical parameters, pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), alkylphenol ethoxylates, bisphenols, per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), sucralose and 6PPD-Quinone. 

Overall, the Chemainus River watershed had relatively good water quality in the wet season, but additional sampling and analysis will provide additional insight into contamination impacts from forest fires, domestic wastewater, industrial chemicals and road runoff on the health of this valued watershed.

Chemainus River watershed

Key findings

• This is a preliminary assessment of water quality in the Chemainus River watershed; our understanding of water quality will grow with additional sampling.
• We collected and analysed water in the Chemainus River watersheds during the wet season (December 11, 2023 and February 6, 2024).
• Road runoff was the most contaminated water category in the wet season; it had the highest concentrations of nutrients, pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), bisphenols, sucralose and 6PPD-Quinone.
• Marine water was the second most contaminated water category in the wet season; it had the highest concentration of metals, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), and alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs).
• Tap, and stream and river water were less contaminated than the above water categories in the wet season.
• Source water was the least contaminated water category of water in the wet season.
• Overall, the Chemainus River watershed had relatively good water quality in the wet season:
  • There were two exceedances of Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines.
  • There were no exceedances of Health Canada Drinking Water Quality Guidelines.

Background

Raincoast’s Healthy Waters Program delivers high-resolution, community-oriented water quality analysis to watersheds across southern British Columbia. The goal of Healthy Waters is to empower communities with the understanding of the status of water quality in their watersheds, to allow for local advocacy regarding both point and nonpoint source pollution. 

The Halalt People originate from the village of xeláltxw, which means ‘marked houses’ or ‘painted houses’, a reference to the fact that the houseposts in this village were decorated. According to information collected by Rozen (1985), this village was once located in the Cowichan Valley, at the spot where the Silver Bridge currently crosses the Cowichan River, at the south-eastern edge of the city of Duncan. According to Cowichan oral history, the forefathers of both the Cowichan and Chemainus people (Siyóletse and St’éts’en respectively) originated from this village.

The residents of this village later relocated to a village at the north end of Willy Island, the largest of the Shoal Islands located just off the mouth of the Chemainus River, perhaps in the early part of the 19th Century. When they moved, they took the village name with them. Rozen (1985) reports that, historically, there were at least five or six houses in the village on Willy’s Island. Although the entire island was designated an Indian Reserve (Halalt Island No. 1), the village was abandoned in the 1920s and the residents moved to the Westholme reserve on the lower Chemainus River (Halalt No. 2).

The Halalt have stewarded the land and waters of the Chemainus River watershed and surrounding areas since time immemorial.

A watershed based approach to sampling

We collect samples from five different categories of water in each of our partner watersheds: from source water, upstream of human impacts, down to the marine environment. 

Source water serves as an upstream reference sample, allowing us to determine which contaminants are being introduced as water traces its path down through the watershed. 

Stream and river samples allow us to investigate the quality of fish habitat directly, by collecting samples from streams, creeks, and rivers used by salmon and other fish species (either currently or historically). 

Road runoff serves as an impacted sample category of current concern, as many contaminants, including  PAHs, metals, surfactants and chemicals such as 6-PPD quinone can be washed off roadways and into fish habitat during rain events. 

We include tap water samples in our analysis as a way to bring our homes into the conversation – we borrow water from the environment in the form of municipal or well water, and generally return it to aquatic habitats in a more-degraded state in the form of storm and sewage effluent (treated or untreated).

Marine water samples provide insight into those contaminants that may degrade fish and whale habitat in the ocean, and enable an understanding of the contribution of land-based pollutants from the adjacent watershed to the marine environment.

Collectively, the lessons learned from our partnering watersheds will contribute to a greater understanding of threats to water quality across British Columbia, and ultimately what policy changes can be implemented to preserve the quality of water for the future of salmon, whales, and people.

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