Surface Water Quality Guidelines for Use in Alberta

PDF files are Adobe Acrobat documents.
Please visit Viewer Download if you need to obtain the free viewer.

This document compiles surface water quality guidelines for use in Alberta, and will be revised periodically to incorporate new information and guidelines. Click here to download, PDF 134 KB.

• 1999 Compilation of latest Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME), United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and Alberta guidelines, updated as required
• For general use in water quality assessments and regulatory activities
• Can be used in performance measure development (water quality index)
• Will be used as the basis for developing site-specific water quality objectives

The guidelines are numerical concentrations or narrative statements recommended to support and maintain a designated water use. Different jurisdictions use differing types of scientific information and statistical methods to develop guidelines for their particular needs, and periodically modify methods. Users are encouraged to refer to the supporting documents (links below), in particular, Protocol to Develop Alberta Water Quality Guidelines for Protection of Freshwater Aquatic Life (1996) PDF 461 KB, CCME (1999) and USEPA (1999) for a more comprehensive understanding of the purpose, context and derivation of the respective guidelines.