Approved Water Quality Guidelines

Ambient water quality guidelines (WQGs) are developed to promote healthy ecosystems and protect human health. Water quality guidelines are science-based levels of physical, biological and chemical parameters for the protection of water uses such as aquatic life, wildlife, agriculture, drinking water and recreation.

Approved WQGs are policy statements and applied generically province wide, providing the basis for water quality assessments and informing decision-making in the natural resource sector.

Guidelines

 

Aluminum

 

Arsenic

 

Benzene

 

Boron

 

Cadmium

 

Chlorate

 

Chloride

 

Chlorine

 

Chlorophenols

 

Cobalt

 

Colour

 

Copper

 

Cyanide

 

Diisopropanolamine (DIPA)

 

Dissolved Oxygen

 

Ethylbenzene

 

Fluoride

 

Iron

 

Lead

 

Manganese

 

Mercury

 

Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether (MTBE)

 

Microbiological Indicators – Bacteria

 

Molybdenum

 

Naphthalene

 

Nitrogen – Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia

 

Nutrients – Nutrients and Algae

 

Organic Carbon

 

pH

 

Pharmaceutically-Active Compounds (PhACs): 17 α-ethinylestradiol (EE2)

 

Phenol

 

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)

 

Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)

 

Selenium

 

Silver

 

Sulfolane

 

Sulphate

 

Temperature

 

Toluene

 

Total Gas Pressure (TGP)

 

Turbidity

 

Xylene

 

Zinc