Water quality and stormwater contaminants in the Brunette River watershed, British Columbia, 1994/95

Past and currently ongoing projects have studied the water, sediment, and biota within the watershed to evaluate the health of the watershed and to make comparative studies with agricultural and non- urbanized watersheds. [...] As well, the study was required to identify the known stormwater outfalls into the system, and to discuss the issues of source control and best management practices (BMPs) applicable to the Brunette system. [...] Lead concentrations exceeded the 4 µg/L water quality objective in 3% of samples, zinc concentrations exceeded the 30 µg/L objective in 19% of the samples, and copper concentrations in the baseflow were estimated to exceed the 2 µg/L water quality objective in 58% of samples. [...] The export coefficients for stormwater were in the relative order Gilmore > Renfrew > Eagle, and for street runoff stations were in the - ii - Stormwater in the Brunette. [...] Studies have shown that about half of the cadmium, copper, and zinc and up to 3/4 of the manganese, chromium, lead, and nickel are associated with the suspended sediments of street runoff.