National Water Quality
Indicator for Canada
Rob Kent
National Water Quality Monitoring Office
National Water Research Institute
Environment Canada
UN International Work Session on Water Statistics
Vienna, Austria
June 20-22, 2005
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Outline:
• Background, context
• Data generation - monitoring
• Canadian Water Quality Index
and Reporting out
• Benefits and challenges
• Conclusions
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Background
 Consistent a top priority for Canadians
 Increased public concern and decreased
confidence in water safety
 External criticism of current status
 Commitment to better inform Canadians
on national water quality
 Respond to Canadian values on water:
drinkable, swimmable, fishable, available
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A modern integrated approach
…moving beyond “taking the sample”
Functional Elements:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Program Design - objectives
Methods development, Lab support
Research support
Data management
Interpretive tools/guidance
Reporting, indicators and information systems
Partnerships / Outreach
National co-ordination
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Water Quantity Monitoring
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Water Quality Monitoring
National Roundtable on the Environment and Economy
Environment and Sustainable Development Indicators
• Understandable indicators to
track whether Canada's current
economic activities threaten
the way of life for future
generations
• Track natural assets including the ecosystem
services that are crucial to
sustaining the economy in the
long term
• Water Quality: Canadian WQI as
the Freshwater Quality
Indicator
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The CWQI
and
Reporting Out
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National Water Quality Indicator Initiative
Vision: Canadians will recognize and use the
WQ Indicator as a trusted source of
information on national water quality
Sustainability of major water uses:
1.Source
water
drinking
Rob Kent,
Janinefor
Murray,
Don Andersen
Chris Lochner
2.Water for and
recreation
3.Water for agriculture (livestock, irrigation)
Water Quality Monitoring Branch
4.Water
for aquatic
life Institute
National
Water Research
5.Water for industrial uses
Joint CWRA - Government of Canada Workshop:
Building Relationships for Integrated Water Resource
Management
Ottawa, February 6, 2004
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National Water Quality Indicator Framework
Natural Environment
Water Quality and Aquatic Ecosystems
a. Protected areas (e.g., National Parks)
b. Areas impacted by human activity
Human Health
Water
Quality
and Don
Human
Exposure
Rob Kent,
Janine
Murray,
Andersen
and Chris Lochner
a. Consumption
- Source waters for drinking
b. Recreation - beach closures, aesthetics
Water Quality Monitoring Branch
National Water Research Institute
Competitiveness
Water Use and Availability
Joint CWRA - Government of Canada Workshop:
a. Industrial uses
Building Relationships for Integrated Water Resource
b. Agriculture
uses
Management
Ottawa, February 6, 2004
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Canadian WQI
WQI  100 
F F F
2
2
2
1
2
3
1.732
 Scope (F1) - number of variables not
meeting water quality objectives
 Frequency (F2) - the number of times the
objectives are not met
 Amplitude (F3) - the extent to which
objectives exceeded.
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CWQI rating system
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F1 Scope
• Scope assesses the extent of compliance
with water quality guidelines over the
time period of interest.
• F1 indicates the percentage of
parameters, whose guidelines are not
met.
F1 = Number of Failed Variables
Total Number of Variables
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X 100
F2 Frequency
• Assesses the frequency with which
guidelines are not met.
• F2 indicates the percentage of individual
tests which do not meet guidelines (i.e.
“failed tests”)
F2 = Number of Failed Tests
Total Number of Tests
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X 100
F3 Amplitude
• Amplitude assesses the amount by which guidelines are
not met.
• F3 indicates the amount by which failed test values do not
meet their guidelines, and is calculated in 3 steps.
• The number of times an individual concentration exceeds a
guideline is termed an excursion.
When the test value must not exceed the guideline:
excursioni =
{
Failed Test Valuei
Guidelinej
}
-1
When the test value must not fall below the guideline:
excursioni =
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{
Guidelinej
Failed Test Valuei
}
-1
F3 Amplitude (cont.)
• The collective amount by which individual tests are out of
compliance with guidelines is calculated by summing the
excursions of individual tests, and dividing by the total
number of tests which failed guidelines.
• This variable is referred to as the normalized sum of
excursions, or nse.
n
∑ excursionsi
i=1
nse =
# of tests
F3 is then calculated to yield a value between 0 and 100
F3 =
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{
nse
0.01 nse + 0.01
}
Typical Applications
 Selected parameters (~10) related to water
use at monitoring site
 Most appropriate ambient WQ guidelines or
objectives (site-specific)
 3yr average values from at least 9 periods; or
stratified use of CWQI over specific periods
(freshet, recession and base flow)
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Benefits
and
Challenges
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CWQI – What does it do?
 Communication tool – transforms complex water
quality data into understandable descriptions (e.g.,
good, fair, poor)
 Scientific rigor - maximum use of monitoring data
 Consistent use and interpretation across distributed
jurisdictions
 Applies to all beneficial water uses i.e., socioeconomically relevant
 Amenable to multiple reporting scales - local,
regional and national scales of reporting
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CWQI – From data to knowledge
4
1.2
5
4.5
6
0.8
7
0.6
8
0.8
8.5
6.3
5.3
0.7
8.5
0.5
5.2
0.7
8.5
8.4
4.6
0.9
4.6
4.5
4.6
6.3
1.3
1.2
2.3
0.3
1.3
9.4
2.5
4.5
5.6
8.5
2.5
1.5
7.4
0.8
4.8
0.6
7.4
4.3
9.1
0.6
3.1
0.4
9.1
7.6
7.5
0.8
8.7
0.1
7.4
3.5
Ex
ce
lle
nt
120
4.6
4.5
100
2.3
800.3
5.6
608.5
4.8 400.6
3.1 200.4
8.7
00.1
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or
0.9
0.4
Po
3
5.2
0.3
al
0.5
6.3
gi
n
2
3.2
M
ar
0.4
ir
0.3
Fa
1
NO3
P
NH4
DOC
Cd
Zn
Status
of
freshwater
qualityClin Canada
d
Hg
G
oo
Cu
Number of stations
Sample
Environmental Sustainability Index 2005
(World Economic Forum; Yale/Columbia University research)
Canada- Overall rank 6th out of 146 countries
Environmental
Systems
Environmental
Stresses
Human
Vulnerability
4 / 146
104/ 146
2/ 146
Social and
Institutional
Capacity
14 / 146
Global
Stewardship
133/ 146
Reducing Air Pollution
Science/Technology
Reducing Water Stress
Air Quality
Water Quantity
Reducing Ecosystem
and Consumption
Pressures
Biodiversity
Terrestrial Systems
Private Sector
Stresses
Reducing Waste
Water Quality
Basic Human Sustenance
Responsiveness
Environment-related
Natural Disaster
Exposure
Environmental
Governance
Reducing Population
Pressure
Natural Resource
Management
Participation in
International
Collaborative Efforts
Environmental Health
Eco-Efficiency
Greenhouse Gas
Emissions
Reducing Transboundary
Environmental
Pressures
6
22
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Expressing Results Nationally
(NRTEE Report 2003)
Rob Kent, Janine Murray, Don Andersen
and Chris Lochner
Water Quality Monitoring Branch
National Water Research Institute
Joint CWRA - Government of Canada Workshop:
Building Relationships for Integrated Water Resource
Management
Ottawa, February 6, 2004
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Spatial Framework
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Other Challenges
 Integrating physical, chemical and
biological measurements and
processes
 Spatial scale; aggregating results

Rob Kent, Janine Murray, Don Andersen
Weighting of
andF1,2,3
Chris Lochner
 NaturalWater
phenomena
vs human
Quality Monitoring
Branch impacts
National Water
Research Institute
 Best scientific
judgement
Joint CWRA - Government of Canada Workshop:
Building Relationships for Integrated Water Resource
Management
Ottawa, February 6, 2004
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Conclusion
 Water quality indicator integrating all data into
socially relevant “report card” – within
distributed multijurisdictional model
 Continuous improvement
 Credibility
through
expert Don
judgement
Rob Kent,
Janine Murray,
Andersen
and Chris
Lochner
 Start at integrating
water
quality and quantity
measures
intoQuality
natural
capitalBranch
accounting
Water
Monitoring
National Waterchange,
Research strengthened
Institute
 Key to behavioural
measurement
capacity and enhanced resource
Joint CWRA - Government of Canada Workshop:
Building Relationships
for Integrated Water Resource
management
performance
Management
Ottawa, February 6, 2004
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