Assessment of Water Quality in the Brokenhead River Watershed

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Figure 8 clearly demonstrates that the most capable soils for agriculture (Classes 1&2) are found in the northwest portion of the watershed. Table 6 indicates that the southern 1/3 of the Brokenhead River watershed (subwatersheds A, B & C) contain no Class 1 soils, and very little Class 2 and 3 soils. Soils in these watersheds are made up predominantly of Classes 4, 5 and 6, meaning that the soils have severe limitations that either restrict the range of crops that can be grown, require special conservation practices, or represent areas where improvement practices are not feasible. In the Brokenhead River watershed, the most important limitation to agriculture is excess water, soil structure, and in some areas, moisture limitations (AA-F and PFRA, 2004). Table 6. Agricultural capability in the 6 Brokenhead River subwatersheds (values are area in hectares and expressed as a percentage of the area of each subwatershed). Agricultural Sub Watershed Capability A B C D E F Water 41 (0.2) 13 (0.0) 250 (0.3) 506 (0.3) 616 (0.3) 685 (0.3) Urban 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 54 (
Agricultural Activities AA-F and PFRA (2004) compiled agricultural activity data from the 2001 Census of Agriculture. Their statistics represented agricultural activities occurring in the whole watershed. It was not possible to use this data to look at agricultural practices in each of our subwatersheds. In addition, the census data may not represent a true picture of activities, as the data is reported based on where a farm “headquarter” is located. A farm headquarters, or operator’s residence may be located in a separate watershed than the one where the actual farming operations occurs. However, the Census data provides the most comprehensive source of agricultural information. Based on the land cover data (Figure 4), it is evident that the majority of agricultural activities occur in the northern part of the watershed, as influenced by soil characteristics. According to the 2001 Census, there were 350 farms utilizing approximately 86,000 hectares (around 33%) of the land area in the entire Brokenhead River watershed (AA-F and PFRA, 2004). Approximately 70% of the farmed area was used for cropland. According to AA-F and PFRA (2004), 40% was used for cereal crops, 17% for forages, 14% for oil seeds and 2% for pulse crops. Cropland represented approximately 24% of the total Brokenhead River watershed. Livestock production was also common in the watershed, with beef production being the most common – roughly 35% of farms had cow/calf operations (AA-F and PFRA, 2004). Livestock production intensity (expressed as animal units per hectare) was on the low end compared to other watersheds in southern and western Manitoba. Provincially, livestock product intensity in 2001 was highest in parts of the Upper Red River, Rat-Marsh River and Seine River watersheds (AA-F and PFRA, 2004), and livestock production intensity in the Brokenhead River watershed was only about 25% of the intensity of areas such as Steinbach (which had the highest intensity in the province in 2001). Commercial fertilizer use in the Brokenhead River watershed was generally lower than many watersheds in Manitoba’s agricultural areas. Highest commercial fertilizer use was in the Whitemud River watershed, northeast of Brandon (AA-F and PFRA, 2004). Commercial fertilizer use in the Brokenhead River watershed in 2001 was about one-half of that of the Whitemud River watershed. Historic Water Quality Water quality data in the Brokenhead River has been collected by the Province of Manitoba since 1973. Water quality sampling locations with the longest data records include sites at the Trans Canada Highway, on Highway 15 east of Vivian, on Highway 44 east of Beausejour, at Highway 12 north of the junction with Highway 317, and at Scanterbury (Highway 59). While data has been collected continuously at the Scanterbury location since 1973, there are large gaps in the data for other sites where sampling was not conducted for several years, or where sampling was stopped completely in the 1990s. Historically, water quality data was collected 2- 25 | P age
Page 1 and 2: Assessment of Water Quality in the
Page 3 and 4: Executive Summary A pilot project w
Page 5 and 6: opportunities. Based on this assess
Page 7 and 8: Table 1. Water quality sampling loc
Page 9 and 10: alkalinity, bicarbonate, carbonate
Page 11 and 12: Figure 2. Digital elevation model o
Page 13 and 14: species such as black spruce, tamar
Page 15 and 16: Figure 4. Land cover in the Brokenh
Page 17 and 18: Table 3. Land cover classes in the
Page 19 and 20: Table 4. Soil surface texture in th
Page 21 and 22: Figure 7. Soil drainage class in th
Page 23: Figure 8. Agricultural capability i
Page 27 and 28: Figure 9. Concentration of total ph
Page 29 and 30: in the rivers. Phosphorus concentra
Page 31 and 32: ottom panel). There is a higher per
Page 33 and 34: Figure 13. Nitrate (NO 3 - upper pa
Page 35 and 36: Figure 15. Turbidity in the 6 subwa
Page 37 and 38: Training of Youth An important comp
Page 39 and 40: A field trip was held on May 28, 20
Page 41 and 42: Recommendations This pilot study pr
Page 43 and 44: Appendix A. Water Quality Data in t
Page 45 and 46: MB05 SAS 037 2007 Seasonal Variatio
Page 47 and 48: Appendix B. Photos of Water Quality
Page 49 and 50: MB05SAS037 (Highway 15 near Vivian)
Page 51 and 52: MB05SAS0034 (Highway 12 north of Hi

Assessment of Water Quality in the Brokenhead River Watershed

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?