RECENT REPORTS
Community-based monitoring in the Saint John Harbour (2018 - 2021)
The goal of this project was to create a field program in the Saint John Harbour to collect aquatic environmental data on water quality, fish communities, and sediment PAHs in line with Fisheries and Oceans’ Coastal Environmental Baseline Monitoring Program. The 2018 sampling season served as a pilot year for building the Harbour Baseline Monitoring Program, and there have been three full sampling seasons since (2019 - 2021). Water quality was analyzed at 22 sites, and of these sites, 13 were also sampled for sediment contaminants and 8 sites were surveyed for nekton communities via beach seine and fyke net. There was generally good water quality at most Harbour sites, except for certain sites, especially those in Marsh Creek and Little River. Marsh Creek and Little River are two streams known to have historic contamination from industrial and municipal effluents. E. coli concentrations exceeded the recommended guidelines at 14 sites, indicating a chronic problem with fecal contamination. Sediment PAHs were also high at 6 sites, particularly Marsh Creek; these sites are exposed to a number of industrial contamination sources. We collected a total of 35,213 fish and invertebrates, representing 34 species, in beach seines and fyke nets. Spar Cove had the highest abundances but lowest richness and diversity, and species diversity was highest at Inner Harbour, Little River, Marsh Creek and Tin Can Beach. Lengths and counts of the most common species (Atlantic silverside, sand shrimp, Atlantic tomcod) varied temporally and spatially, potentially due to changes in environmental conditions.
Thinking Water: Community Environmental Monitoring In Saint John (2022-2023)
This report summarizes the results of ACAP Saint John’s 2022 Thinking Water project. This project aims to assess the general water quality of streams within the Greater Saint John Area, including tributaries of the Wolastoq (St. John River) and the Saint John Harbour. The Thinking Water project remains significant in a city with a long history of human and industrial influences within waterways. ACAP Saint John has been conducting water quality monitoring in Saint John and its surrounding areas for over 30 years, providing a long-term dataset that can be used by managers and other organizations.
In 2022, ACAP Saint John continued to analyze the water quality of 27 sites in freshwater streams and estuaries within the Greater Saint John area. Water quality index (WQI) values were calculated from field and lab measurements including water temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, salinity, turbidity, ammonia (as NH3), orthophosphate (as P), and Escherichia coli (E. coli) concentration, collected between May and October. No sites had “excellent” water quality in 2022, while only three sites had “good” water quality as determined by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) water quality index calculations. Of the remaining sites, ten were in “fair” condition, eight were in “marginal” condition, and six were in “poor” condition. The sites with the poorest water quality index include five out of seven Marsh Creek sites, Newman’s Brook Downstream, and Hazen Creek Mouth. Mean phosphate concentrations exceeded the threshold limit at 21 of 27 sites (77.7%) while ammonia and E. coli concentrations exceeded the recreational limit at 11 of 27 sites (40.7%). These water quality issues are a persistent problem in these watersheds, indicating stormwater or sewage inputs and other sources of contamination still have considerable impact on the Saint John region.
ACAP Saint John also evaluated biotic communities across eight sites within the Saint John Harbour by quantifying the abundances of fish and invertebrates caught at these sites using beach seines and fyke nets in 2022. This work is part of a large monitoring program focused on developing an environmental baseline for the region. In 2022, a total of 6516 individuals representing 25 species were caught, with the majority of the catch comprised of sand shrimp (Crangon septemspinosa).
Open Waters 2019-2020
This report will summarize the findings of ACAP Saint John’s 2019 Open Waters project. Open Waters aims to assess the general water quality across streams in the Greater Saint John Area, including tributaries of the Wolastoq [St. John River (SJR)] and of the Saint John Harbour. This project is incredibly significant in a city with a long history of human and industrial uses and impacts on waterways. ACAP Saint John has collected over 27 years of water quality data across many sites in the Saint John region and this historic data has been incorporated into this report.
In 2019, 26 sites were analyzed and across these sites, when excluding fecal coliform counts, general water quality was observed to be in good or excellent condition at 19 of these sites, as determined by the Canadian Council for the Ministers of Environment (CCME) water quality index calculations. This suggests that most sites across Saint John show minimal to no impairment in water quality parameters measured, an excellent feat for an industrial Harbour region. The exception to this is in Marsh Creek and Newman’s Brook Downstream where sites are in fair condition, suggesting water quality is occasionally impaired or threatened. When considering fecal coliform counts the data suggest further impairment across sites (15 of 26 sites). This is especially evident in Marsh Creek where historical sewage contamination is known to be present, although concentrations are low compared to pre-Harbour Cleanup (2014) values. Though generally speaking the water of the Greater Saint John area is in good conditions, the excess nutrients and fecal coliform present across a range of sites suggests that there is an influence of stormwater or sewer inputs in the system and this monitoring should continue across the Wolastoq, its tributaries, and the Saint John Harbour.
Fish community data is also reported herein and will indicate that there is a wide variety of species and abundant numbers sampled across the Saint John Harbour. This work is part of a larger monitoring program that will help identify baseline ecosystem status through various endpoints, including fish community richness and diversity. This is a preliminary reporting of this data and more analysis is to be completed.
Rebirth of Water 2018-2019
Continued water quality monitoring throughout the City of Saint John and the Greater Saint John area helps to gain insight into the aquatic habitats that these watercourses provide, as well as their safety for recreational use for humans. The watercourses that have had continuous monitoring this year include: Marsh Creek, Inner Harbour, Newman’s Brook, Caledonia Brook, Alder Brook, Hazen Creek, Taylor Brook, Salmon Creek and Mispec River. Additional sampling sites were added this year on the west side of the City, which include Mill Creek, Spruce Lake Stream, Walker Creek, Mosquito Cove, Manawagonish Creek, and Dominion Park. These new locations were added this year to more accurately portray the water quality of the city’s waterways as a whole.
Overall, the watercourses included in this year’s sampling all continue to have the capability to provide sufficient aquatic habitats for various forms of aquatic life. There are several factors that potentially affect the water courses such as stormwater runoff, sanitary sewer overflows and riparian degradation. The stormwater runoff and riparian degradation as well as the hot, dry weather led to elevated temperatures and slightly decreased dissolved oxygen levels as compared to previous years. On average, most sites this year saw an increase in orthophosphate concentration when compared to previous data. At this time, there is no official guideline or recommendation for orthophosphate levels in place.
The considerable improvements of water quality parameters for aquatic life seen in Marsh Creek since the completion of Harbour Cleanup in 2014 solidifies that the funding and resources put into the project were much needed. The most notable difference in the water quality is the dissolved oxygen concentrations, although lower in 2018 than 2017, they are still above the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment guideline recommended concentration of 6.5 mg/L on average at all the sites sampled.
Rebirth of Water 2017-2018
Marsh Creek, which is the largest watershed in greater Saint John, has been the recipient of centuries of untreated municipal wastewater deposition. Offensive odours, unsightly sanitary products and the threat posed by various human pathogens, resulting largely from the ~50 sewage outfalls in the lower reaches of Marsh Creek and the Saint John Harbour, have caused most residents to abandon the wellness of the watercourse. ACAP Saint John, a community-based ENGO and champion of the Harbour Cleanup project, has been conducting water quality monitoring and fish community surveys in the watershed since 1993 with the view towards someday restoring the ecological integrity of this forgotten natural asset.
Rebirth of Water 2016-2017
Marsh Creek, which is the largest watershed in greater Saint John, has been the recipient of centuries of untreated municipal wastewater deposition. Offensive odours, unsightly sanitary products and the threat posed by various human pathogens, resulting largely from the ~50 sewage outfalls in the lower reaches of Marsh Creek and the Saint John Harbour, have caused most residents to abandon the wellness of the watercourse. ACAP Saint John, a community-based ENGO and champion of the Harbour Cleanup project, has been conducting water quality monitoring and fish community surveys in the watershed since 1993 with the view towards someday restoring the ecological integrity of this forgotten natural asset.