South Saskatchewan River Basin Water Quality Monitoring Data for 15+ Years

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) provides long-term freshwater quality monitoring data for six sites in the South Saskatchewan River Basin. The dataset includes measurements for nutrients, metals, major ions, and other physical-chemical variables collected over 15 years or longer. This data supports the Prairie Provinces Water Board (PPWB) and Parks Canada in assessing status, trends, and the effectiveness of regulatory decisions.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term trends in nutrient concentrations based on the 15+ year monitoring period mentioned in the description.
• Detecting emerging water quality issues based on the monitoring of metals and major ions.
• Assessing the effectiveness of remedial measures and regulatory decisions based on the stated purpose of the monitoring program.
• Establishing or validating regional water quality guidelines based on the comprehensive physical-chemical variable measurements.

Strengths

• Data spans 15 years or longer, enabling robust long-term trend analysis.
• Covers six monitoring sites within a major Canadian river basin, providing spatial context.
• Includes multiple water quality parameter groups: nutrients, metals, major ions, and other physical-chemical variables.
• Produced by the authoritative national agency Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for specific modeling tasks.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to monitoring only six sites within the South Saskatchewan River Basin.

Provenance

Source

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)

Collection Method

Long-term freshwater quality monitoring conducted by ECCC.

Time Range

15 years or longer

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-07 19:21:48.191497; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Six sites in the South Saskatchewan River Basin, Canada