PartnerFocus:
​A Canada first for drinking water quality targets (Voits)

Highlights

• Climate change-exacerbated extreme weather events, such as larger, more intense wildfires are challenging the provision of safe drinking water by delivering ash, sediment, and associated contaminants to source water. 

• forWater a transdisciplinary network of researchers, industry partners, and organizations, from five different ecozones across Canada aims to assess the impacts of forest management on drinking water source quality and treatability.

• To collaboratively advance drinking water source protection in the province of Alberta, Spray Lake Sawmills, a member of the forWater Network, with support from the City of Calgary, included two new, voluntary targets in their most recent Forest Management Plan (FMP): one focused on water quality monitoring and another related to harvesting strategies to reduce the risk of wildfire.

​Approximately 70% of the world’s drinking water originates in forested watersheds. In Canada, forested watersheds generally produce high quality source water that requires less treatment and lower associated cost relative to water treatment systems sourcing more deteriorated source water. 

In recent decades, the increase of large, extreme wildfires as well as other landscape disturbances such as extreme precipitation and pest infestations in forests, has threatened the reliable delivery of high quality source water from forested watersheds. The forWater Network, a University of Waterloo and University of Alberta co-led network, was formed to address the growing need for tangible solutions to manage and reduce risk to source water quality resulting from landscape disturbances. The evaluation of forest harvesting impacts on source water quality and treatability has been a specific focus of forWater. The network, headed by Drs. Monica Emelko and Uldis Silins from the Universities of Waterloo and Alberta, respectively, bridges two very distinct research areas: water treatment and forest management.

ABOVE

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McLean Creek, Elbow River Watershed is part of the source water used by the City of Calgary for drinking water. Source: Spray Lake Sawmills

The City of Calgary and Spray Lake Sawmills (SLS) are forWater Network partners. Through the years of forWater participation, they have developed a unique partnership that led to the City of Calgary’s participation in the consultation process for SLS’s Forest Management Plan (FMP). This led to the collaborative development and inclusion of two voluntary goals within the FMP, one focused on water quality and another related to harvesting strategies to reduce the risk of wildfire. Jason Mogilefsky, Forest Manager at SLS, is one of the staff that oversees the FMP process.
 
“Water quantity and quality values were currently addressed in the FMP but not particular to municipal drinking water. The City of Calgary, to their credit, saw some gaps in the plan that were related to protecting municipal drinking water supplies.” In addition, Mogilefsky noted the forWater Network as a key driver for addressing drinking water values in the FMP.
 
“The scientific information provided by the forWater Network highlighted how relevant properly managed forests are in protecting drinking water supplies. We asked the City of Calgary to develop the drinking water VOITs themselves and then reviewed them, knowing that they have the expertise with water quality sampling,” said Mogilefsky.

Water quality monitoring is critical to understanding the nutrients and sediment that enter waterways upstream of water treatment plants. Source: Alberta Government, Forestry Division

Water quality monitoring requires water samples to be taken throughout the year. Alberta government scientists collect samples with staff from The City of Calgary from a stream in mid-winter. Source: Alberta Government, Forestry Division

Spray Lake Sawmills’ proactive approach allows the industry and government regulations to shift towards more comprehensive protection of source waters for drinking water. This not only improves water security, but sends a clear message that more can be done to protect these limited resources.
 
Jen Pouliotte, a Senior Watershed Planner at the City of Calgary, shares:
“Spray Lake Sawmills was genuinely interested in seeing what the City of Calgary could come up with. What we developed, which was included in the plan, opened the door for a different discussion with regards to water quality as no one had included these measures before in all of Alberta.”

The next step for this ongoing partnership is to determine how to monitor and evaluate the new drinking water quality VOITs. The City of Calgary shared that it is still early days in determining if the VOITs will have an impact on water quality and treatability in the future, but it is an important first step. Expanding the role forest management can play in protecting downstream water quality is one way communities can increase resilience to a changing climate. Managing the nutrients and organic matter that enter waterways that are the source for drinking water for major municipalities such as the City of Calgary might be a useful model for other places in the province and more broadly in Canada. As this partnership and resulting VOITs evolves, it has the potential to provide a jumping off point for other municipalities as they map out their resiliency plans for safe secure drinking water in the future.