Assessment of Water Quality in the Brokenhead River Watershed

The objectives of this project were:
To document water quality in the Brokenhead River from its headwaters to the
community of Brokenhead Ojibway Nation,
To assess the influence of natural watershed features and land use in the Brokenhead
River watershed on the water quality of the river,
To provide education and training opportunities for First Nation and non-Aboriginal
youth in water quality monitoring and riparian health assessment, and
To provide information to the Brokenhead River Restoration Committee relevant to the
development of a future watershed management plan
This study was designed as a pilot project and as such, certain aspects such as water quality
sampling were quite limited in scope.
Methods
Water Quality Sampling and Water Chemistry Analyses
Water quality samples were collected on three occasions during the summer and fall of 2007.
On July 17, August 29 and October 16, 2007, water samples were collected at each of 6 sites
along the Brokenhead River from near its headwaters at the Trans Canada Highway to the
community of Brokenhead Ojibway Nation (Figure 1). The sampling locations represent water
quality stations periodically utilized by Manitoba Water Stewardship for their data collection,
with the addition of one site (Hazel Creek, located along Highway 15, east of Ste. Rita). Some
of the Manitoba Water Stewardship sites have been monitored periodically since 1973, although
there are several years which monitoring was not undertaken. Table 1 provides a list of the
sampling locations.
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