1. Implementation of KiWQM Eavan O’Connor and Sara Rawski Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority November 26, 2015 Credit Valley Conservation Authority Office

2. 2 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Presentation Outline - Introduction – Lake Simcoe - The sampling programs - Water quality data – WISKI 6 - Water quality data – WISKI 7 - Data analysis & reporting - Agents & Scripts - Tips - Discussion

3. 3 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Lake Simcoe - 60 km north of Toronto - Watershed: 3,307 km 2 ▫ Lake: 722 km 2 - Depth max: 42 m (mean = 15 m) - 435,500 residents ▫ (+50,000 seasonal) - $200 million recreational fishery Map: Wilson 2008

4. 4 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Lake Simcoe – Environmental Stressors Photo: Google Earth - Phosphorus loading: 2007-2011 average = 91 tonnes (LSPP target = 44 tonnes) - Deepwater Oxygen: <5 mg/L (LSPP target = 7mg/L) - Invasive species - Climate change - Watershed development ▫ Road salt!!!!

5. 5 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Routine WQ monitoring programs - LSPP (Lake Simcoe Protection Plan) sites ▫ 28 sites (one autosampler) + quality control samples ▫ Sampled every two weeks, every three weeks in winter ▫ Plus extra event sampling, especially during spring freshet - PWQMN sites ▫ 12 sites (8 overlap with LSPP) ▫ Sampled monthly during ice-free season (8X per year) - LSPP atmospheric sampling ▫ 7 sites (3 sites in winter) + QC samples ▫ Weekly (every three weeks in winter)

6. 6 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Other WQ monitoring programs - Limnology water quality and sediment - Groundwater - Turbidity (4 sites) - Conductivity (6 sites) - LSCUF and LSGBCUF projects ▫ Autosamplers at three sites (temporary) - Subwatershed plans, Biocriteria, Toxic Screening - Historic sites

7. 7 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Historical data – WISKI 6 - Migrated water quality data from WISKI 6 to 7 - Tried three times ▫ Units were ignored  e.g. PPUT value of 50 µg/L was listed as 50 mg/L ▫ Date artifact that could not be fixed ▫ Gave up! - Remained in limbo for a long time - Blessing in disguise! ▫ Recreated everything from scratch ▫ And improved the structure

8. 8 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Historical data – WISKI 6 - Loss of all scripts ▫ Different scripting language ▫ Decided not to have Kisters re-write them for us ▫ Better to write in-house with assistance from Kisters  For two reasons: cost and data knowledge - Still have not caught up with historic data imports! ▫ From WISKI 6 and excel files - House cleaning still required! ▫ Artifact parameters need to be deleted ▫ Requires care and attention to detail

9. 9 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Water Quality Data – WISKI 7 - Five Measuring programs 1.LSPP_Atmospheric 2.LSPP_Tributaries 3.PWQMN_Tributaries 4.Limnology 5.Limnology_Sediment

10. 10 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Flow Chart – Setting things up using KiWQM Configuration - Parameters ▫ Parameter type (PPUT, CLIDUR, etc.) ▫ Analysis methods ▫ Parameter method combination - Parameter Lists ▫ Certain parameters assigned to each list - Measuring Programs ▫ Assign stations ▫ Assign parameter list

11. 11 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Water Quality Data – WISKI 7

12. 12 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Water Quality Data – WISKI 7 - Data QA/QC Best done before data is in WISKI Data format must match exactly to the import configuration file No blank values Replicate values can be included in file Correct Units

13. 13 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Water Quality Data – WISKI 7

14. 14 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Water Quality Data – WISKI 7

15. 15 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Water quality in hydrology module Continuous data: - Turbidity - Conductivity Sampling status: - Up-to-date sampling points on the hydrograph

16. 16 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Reporting - Phosphorus Loading Reports ▫ Calculations using phosphorus, flows and precipitation - Watershed Report Cards ▫ Grading using comparison of phosphorus to PWQO (and benthic information) - Subwatershed Plans ▫ Comparison of several parameters to WQ Objectives, trend analysis (long and short-term) - Environmental Monitoring Report - Science Newsletters (e.g., Turbidity and TP) - Research

17. 17 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Data Analysis - Most data analysis is done outside of WISKI ▫ Became a habit when we were in limbo - Quality control of turbidity/conductivity ▫ Range related editing, amplitude tool - “Quick” regressions in WISKI ▫ TSS vs TP, for example ▫ Times do not always match

18. 18 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Scripts and agents - Purpose: Assist with phosphorus load calculations - Agent: Aggregate of phosphorus from all analytical methods for each monitoring program - Agent: Merges together phosphorus concentrations from both programs (LSPP and PWQMN) - Script: Midpoint method

19. 19 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Aggregate

20. 20 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Merger

21. 21 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Midpoint Script Midpoint method (Scheider 1979) ▫ Estimate concentrations for days between samples ▫ Half with first concentration, Half with second concentration

22. 22 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Wish List - Loads - Tributary loads (TP, chloride, nitrogen, TSS) ▫ Concentration X flow ▫ Gauged, ungauged, unmonitored subwatersheds ▫ Prorating to mouth required - Bulk application of time series creation - Other loads (Polders, Atmospheric, WPCP, septic) - Midpoint method using linear interpolation - Use of turbidity for load estimates - Atmospheric, phosphorus outlier detection - Everything as automated as possible!

23. 23 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Wish List - Other - Key Lists (sample descriptions) - Alarms (turbidity) - Comparator lists (WQ objectives) - Using turbidity or conductivity to determine WQ objective exceedances - KPI (ecological health key performance indicators, percentiles in WISKI)

24. 24 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Tips Feeling Overwhelmed? - Tough learning curve, but gets better! - Keep trying, eventually things will make more sense! - Learn from others, ask Kisters questions - Time: Huge task, not for one person ▫ Tricky to balance other work and make time for WISKI Technical tips: - Alphabetical order (Parameters) - Static copies of calculated time series - Consistency (naming conventions, EST/EDT) - Be careful about updating versions (loss of integrity) - WISKI 7 is much more forgiving and flexible than WISKI 6

25. 25 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Notes to the group - Consistent naming conventions among organizations (for WQ parameters) ▫ To ease potential grouping of data - Central Hub or Conglomerate ▫ Interested? ▫ Suggestions?

26. 26 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Load Monitored/gauged subwatersheds ▫ Daily load time series uses:  flow (pro-rated) and  concentration (midpoint) time series  and a formula ▫ Annual load time series (sum of daily loads) Monitored/ungauged subwatersheds ▫ Flows estimated from gauged areas using a formula: ▫ Sum of all gauged flows divided by gauged area multiplied by ungauged subwatershed area Unmonitored/ungauged subwatersheds ▫ Loads calculated outside of WISKI ▫ Annual load estimated on an areal basis Loading Calculations

27. 27 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Phosphorus sites Lake Simcoe – Tributary Water Quality Monitoring Turbidity and/or conductivity sites (6)

28. 28 Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority  A Watershed for Life Phosphorus Loads - Tributaries (67%), Atmospheric (19%), Polders (5%), Septic Systems (5%), WPCP’s (4%)