the whitesand river: an assessment of brook trout habitat suitability following mine site closure
abstract
the winston lake mine operated from 1988-1999 within the whitesand
river watershed located near schreiber, on. operations resulted in releases of
elevated cations and anions from tailings pond discharges above cleaver lake.
the lake entered a period of meromictic stagnation but has since been reported
to be experiencing seasonal turnover as a product of natural remediation. the
overall goal of environmental studies in the watershed is to determine the
likelihood of a successful reintroduction of brook trout. suitable habitat within
cleaver lake and the outflow into the whitesand river is required for this to
occur. this thesis involved the whitesand river. water quality data provided by
first quantum minerals was used to assess the potential effect of heavy metals,
total dissolved solids (tds), dissolved oxygen (do), ph, temperature and
water hardness on survivability of brook trout. comparison of pre-operational
data and recent water quality records indicated the return of examined water
quality and benthic invertebrate populations to conditions statistically similar to
the historical habitat. rising seasonal temperatures were identified as an area of
concern having potential to impact future health of cold-water fish communities in
the river.
collections
- undergraduate theses [325]