Water Quality

The Water Quality Unit within Water Resources undertakes a variety of activities aimed at ensuring the protection of our natural waterways.

Water Quality Auditing:

Anyone who makes significant use of water or discharges to water typically must have a water licence from the Yukon Water Board.  The Water Quality Unit audits the water licence performance for those licensed activities that could pose a potential threat to water and any plant, animal or person. This data is collected and tracked over time.

Water Quality staff visit and take samples at mine sites (inactive or active), municipal wastewater facilities, fish farms, and assorted other locales. Some of these samples are processed in our own lab in Whitehorse.

Water Quality Trend Monitoring

In 2005, the Water Quality Unit and Environment Canada’s Pacific-Yukon Water Quality Monitoring and Surveillance group began monitoring four new river monitoring stations: Klondike River, McQueston River downstream of the Keno mining district, and the Yukon River upstream and downstream of Whitehorse. In the near future we expect to add more stations in the Peel Basin, Old Crow and Faro areas.

Water quality parameters being tracked include physical variables, metal content, nutrients and bacteria counts. Data will be fed into the new national Water Quality Index and be part of the Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicator for freshwater.

Working with Other Jurisdictions

Staff from the Water Quality Unit represent the territory on several inter-jurisdictional working groups and national bodies concerned with the management and well-being of water.  These include the Canadian Council of Ministers of Environment and the Mackenzie River Basin Board.

Working with First Nations

Many First Nations with Final Agreements are advocating for more rigorous environmental protection and wish to be more visible custodians of the land and waters within their territories.  Water Resources has recently been joined by the Carcross-Tagish First Nation to undertake works within a new Yukon River Watershed Management Working Group.