A Study Of Water And Sediment Quality As - TO THE TAR SANDS .ca

Interview questions
1. Do you drink untreated water from the Athabasca River and other rivers
and lakes? If not, did you drink it in the past?
2. If so, do you think the water tastes or smells differently than it
used to?
3. How does it taste differently? Saltier? Oily smell?
4. When did you notice the change?
5. Have you noticed oil slicks in the Athabasca River? If so, when and where?
5a. Do you have any photographs of oil spills or oiled animals?
6. Have you noticed fish kills? If so, when and where?
7. Have you noticed oiled birds? If so, when and where?
8. Have you noticed oiled muskrats? Bloody noses? Die-offs? If so, when
and where?
8a. What happens to muskrats when they contact contaminants/oil?
8b. What happens to waterfowl when they contact contaminants/oil?
9. Have you noticed changes in the taste of meat, fish, waterfowl?
If so, when, where, what changes?
10. Have you noticed any changes in the abundance of waterfowl, rats, beavers, otters,
mink, walleye, jackfish, whitefish, lake trout, burbot that might be related to
water quality?
11. Have you noticed any human diseases that did not occur in the past?
Analytical Methods
Water and sediment analyses were conducted by the ALS Laboratory Group,
Edmonton, Alberta with the exception of total mercury in water which were analyzed by
Flett Research Ltd., Winnipeg, Manitoba. Details are provided in Appendix 1.
Data gathered during this study were compared to pre-existing water and
sediment quality data and to toxicological and pathological data from the region and
placed in the context of existing water and sediment quality guidelines.
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