Protecting and managing Canadian water resources in the face of growing cumulative effects and non-point source pollution from development (industrial, agricultural, and urban), depends on defensible, scientifically founded, watershed assessments. The objectives of this research were to broadly characterize the spatial and temporal patterns in water quality (total phosphorus and total nitrogen concentration, export and yield) across a land use disturbance gradient (forest, agriculture, urban) to elucidate pressures on water quality from specific landscape regions within the three headwater sub-basins of the Oldman River basin. While the water quality in the Oldman basin, remains fairly pristine, important spatial differences in nutrient production were evident between the upstream (predominantly forested) and the downstream (mixed agricultural/forested) reaches within the sub-basins. Using the pressure state response model as a framework to link landscapes to observed water quality, it was also found that phosphorus contamination may be an issue in the headwaters. / Water and Land Resources
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:AEU.10048/1517 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Howery, Jocelyn |
| Contributors | Silins, Uldis (Renewable Resources), Boxall, Peter (Rural Economy), Adamowicz, W.L (Rural Economy), Stone, Mike (Geography and Environmental Management) |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 3327030 bytes, application/pdf |
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