Acid Sensitive Lakes, Oil Sands Region

Acid-Sensitive Lakes



Nine hundred and thirty-three lakes located in Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories were sampled to establish current acidification status. Of the 933 lakes, 244 (or 26%) are considered acid sensitive, almost always because of naturally low calcium and magnesium (or "base cation") concentrations. The most acid-sensitive lakes (i.e., those with extremely low base cation concentrations) are located on the Canadian Shield in both Alberta and Saskatchewan and east of the oils sands development area.



Fifty-one of the 244 acid-sensitive lakes were sampled twice annually (spring and fall) to identify chemical changes through trend analyses. Results revealed that 55% of these lakes had concentrations of some metals in excess of Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment guidelines. Of the 291 samples taken in the 51 lakes, iron concentrations were greater than guidelines in 36% (105 samples), aluminum in 33% (97 samples), lead in 0.3% (1 sample) and copper in 0.3% (1 sample). The metals in these lakes occur naturally and are expected to be found in a wide range of concentrations given the geology and physiography of the Canadian Shield. It remains to establish the relationship between acid sensitivity, geology and high metal concentrations.

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Metadata Record Information

File Identifier
dd7f2e18-e1dd-4da3-bb83-ed7bbf7ede20 XML
Date Stamp
2025-04-01T19:45:46.616Z
Metadata language

eng; CAN
Character set
UTF8
Hierarchy Level
Series
Point of contact
  Government of Canada; Environment and Climate Change Canada; Science and Technology Branch / Water Science and Technology / Aquatic Contaminants Research Division - ACRD Data Management Team

867 Lakeshore Rd., Burlington, Ontario, L7S 1A1, Canada
 

Data identification

Title

Acid Sensitive Lakes, Oil Sands Region
Date (Publication)
2014-05-22
Date (Creation)
2014-05-20
Date (Revision)
2016-04-25
Status
On going
Metadata language

eng; CAN
Character set
UTF8
Topic category
  • Environment
Maintenance and Update Frequency
As needed
Spatial representation type
Vector
Point of contact
  Government of Canada; Environment and Climate Change Canada; Science and Technology Branch / Water Science and Technology / Aquatic Contaminants Research Division - ACRD Data Management Team

867 Lakeshore Rd., Burlington, Ontario, L7S 1A1, Canada

Keywords

Theme

  • oil sands, monitoring, atmospheric deposition, contaminant, acidification, metals, nutrients, major ions, acid sensitivity, water quality

Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus

  • Oil sands

  • Lakes

ECCC Information Category EN

  • Water - Quality

Business Functions

  • Assess Toxicity, Manage and Monitor for Environmental Presence of Hazardous Substances and Waste

  • Monitor / Assess Substance and Waste Levels in Air, Water, Soil, Biota

Branch

  • Science and Technology Branch

Directorate

  • Water Science and Technology

Environment Canada - Program

  • 1.3.2. Ecosystem Assessment and Approaches

GC Security Level

  • Unclassified

Geography

  • Prairie - Alberta (AB)

  • Prairie - Saskatchewan (SK)

  • Territories - Northwest Territories (NT)
 
Use Limitation

Open Government Licence - Canada ( http://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada)

Access Constraints
License
Use Constraints
License
Begin Date
2012-02-01

Extent

N
S
E
W
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Ref. system Reference Systems

Reference system identifier
http://www.epsg-registry.org / EPSG:4326 /
 

Distribution

Distributor
  Government of Canada; Environment and Climate Change Canada - Public inquiries centre

Fontaine Building 12th floor, 200 Sacré-Coeur Blvd., Gatineau, Quebec, K1A 0H3, Canada
1-800-668-6767

https://www.canada.ca
 
 

Overviews

overview

N
S
E
W
thumbnail




Keywords

oil sands, monitoring, atmospheric deposition, contaminant, acidification, metals, nutrients, major ions, acid sensitivity, water quality
Branch

Science and Technology Branch
Business Functions

Assess Toxicity, Manage and Monitor for Environmental Presence of Hazardous Substances and Waste Monitor / Assess Substance and Waste Levels in Air, Water, Soil, Biota
Directorate

Water Science and Technology
ECCC Information Category EN

Water - Quality
Environment Canada - Program

1.3.2. Ecosystem Assessment and Approaches
GC Security Level

Unclassified
Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus

Lakes Oil sands


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