Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What is water quality?
Good quality water is water which has features or contains substances at desired or acceptable levels. Water quality features can be placed into one of three categories: physical, biological or chemical.
Q. Why is water quality important?
Water is an essential ingredient for a quality life. Humans and other living organisms must have a regular supply of clean water to survive and to maintain good health. Whatever activities happen on land can negatively affect water quality, whether those activities are related to recreation, resource extraction, urban development, agriculture or simply everyday actions in and around our home.
Unfortunately, sometimes without realizing the serious potential hazards they cause, our activities result in contaminants entering our water supply. Not only are local water supplies affected, but everyone downstream of us is too!
Poor water quality can seriously affect human and animal health through waterborne disease. It can also impact the natural balance of the ecosystems that we rely on for our livelihoods.
Q. What health problems can be caused by poor water quality?
Many of the most serious problems cause by organisms that live in water are found in other country and not in Canada. There is a long list of diseases that are caused by poor water quality and a few are listed below.
Non-point source (NPS) pollution, unlike pollution from industrial and sewage treatment plants, comes from many diffuse sources. NPS pollution is caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters, and even our underground sources of drinking water. These pollutants include:
We all play a part. Non-point source pollution results from a wide variety of human activities on the land. Each of us can contribute to the problem without even realizing it.
Q. What is point source pollution?
Point source pollution is contaminated water from wastewater treatment plants and industrial sources that eventually end up back in the river and watershed.
Q. What is a watershed?
A watershed is an area of land catching and storing precipitation that drains into wetlands, streams, rivers and/or lakes. A watershed has a headwater, tributaries and an outlet, and is divided from the next watershed by the highest point of land. Each waterbody is its own mini-watershed. The downward movement of their surface water and groundwater interconnects all watersheds. The smaller watersheds flow into larger and larger watersheds, with all waters eventually entering our oceans. Watersheds are also called basins or catchments.
Q. How can I get involved with the Oldman River Basin Water Quality Initiative?
If you would like to get involved just contact our Project Coordinator at (403) 382-4239.
Good quality water is water which has features or contains substances at desired or acceptable levels. Water quality features can be placed into one of three categories: physical, biological or chemical.
- The physical characteristics such as odour, turbidity, colour, taste and temperature, are the oldest set of factors that people have used to assess water quality.
- The biological characteristics such as protozoans, viruses, fecal coliform bacteria and algae and zooplankton are the focus of researchers when determining water quality.
- There are many types of chemical water quality characteristics including gases (like oxygen and carbon dioxide), salts, nitrates, phosphorus, pesticides, sulphate, iron, mercury and fluoride.
Q. Why is water quality important?
Water is an essential ingredient for a quality life. Humans and other living organisms must have a regular supply of clean water to survive and to maintain good health. Whatever activities happen on land can negatively affect water quality, whether those activities are related to recreation, resource extraction, urban development, agriculture or simply everyday actions in and around our home.
Unfortunately, sometimes without realizing the serious potential hazards they cause, our activities result in contaminants entering our water supply. Not only are local water supplies affected, but everyone downstream of us is too!
Poor water quality can seriously affect human and animal health through waterborne disease. It can also impact the natural balance of the ecosystems that we rely on for our livelihoods.
Q. What health problems can be caused by poor water quality?
Many of the most serious problems cause by organisms that live in water are found in other country and not in Canada. There is a long list of diseases that are caused by poor water quality and a few are listed below.
- Malaria is a parasitic disease that is carried by mosquitoes that spend part of their life cycle in water.
- River Blindness is caused by a parasitic worm but is transmitted by black flies that spend part of their life cycle in water.
- Shistosomiasis is caused by a parasitic worm transmitted by snails living in water.
- Yellow Fever is a viral infection transmitted by mosquitoes.
- Typhoid is spread in drinking water.
- Dysentery kills as many as six million children a year. It is often transmitted in contaminated drinking water.
- Cholera is spread in drinking water.
- Infectious Hepatitis (virus) is spread in drinking water.
- Beaver Fever (Giardiasis) is frequently associated with the consumption of contaminated water.
Non-point source (NPS) pollution, unlike pollution from industrial and sewage treatment plants, comes from many diffuse sources. NPS pollution is caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters, and even our underground sources of drinking water. These pollutants include:
- Excess fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides from agricultural lands and residential areas;
- Oil, grease, and toxic chemicals from urban runoff and energy production;
- Sediment from improperly managed construction sites, crop and forest lands, and eroding stream banks;
- Salt from irrigation practices and acid drainage from abandoned mines;
- Bacteria and nutrients from livestock, pet wastes, and faulty septic systems.
We all play a part. Non-point source pollution results from a wide variety of human activities on the land. Each of us can contribute to the problem without even realizing it.
Q. What is point source pollution?
Point source pollution is contaminated water from wastewater treatment plants and industrial sources that eventually end up back in the river and watershed.
Q. What is a watershed?
A watershed is an area of land catching and storing precipitation that drains into wetlands, streams, rivers and/or lakes. A watershed has a headwater, tributaries and an outlet, and is divided from the next watershed by the highest point of land. Each waterbody is its own mini-watershed. The downward movement of their surface water and groundwater interconnects all watersheds. The smaller watersheds flow into larger and larger watersheds, with all waters eventually entering our oceans. Watersheds are also called basins or catchments.
Q. How can I get involved with the Oldman River Basin Water Quality Initiative?
If you would like to get involved just contact our Project Coordinator at (403) 382-4239.
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