To promote collaboration and leadership amongst nationally distributed water networks, a partnership fund has been an integral part of the RésEau initiative. Partnership projects including all levels of government, non-governmental organizations and communities have been supported to demonstrate key RésEau principles.
[+]Partner Demonstrations
RésEau - Core Project Demonstrations
A core body of work has been advanced under RésEau to demonstrate effective environmental information sharing approaches and improve scientific data comparability. This work has been supported by user needs research, capacity building, outreach and communications.
[+]Scientific
[+]Technical
[+]Capacity Building
[+]Communications
Partner Demonstrations
Building Water Connections in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory
This project plays an important role in determining long term trends in water quality, identifying emerging aquatic ecosystem impacts and providing decision-making resource information to Canadians. Led by Environment Canada, the project enables the timely Web-based access to essential surface and groundwater quality data and information held by the provincial government and territorial agencies and organizations. A component of this project engages First Nations in the Yukon Territory in identifying current water quality monitoring in their communities.
Organization: Environment Canada
Project manager: Beverly McNaughton
Web site: www.waterquality.ec.gc.ca
Youth portal for ecological water monitoring
The Youth Portal showcases the water monitoring projects of the Comité de valorisation de la rivière Beauport and the Biosphere, such as J'Adopte un cours d'eau, Attention à l'habitat du poisson!, Opération puits and the Freshwater Fish Ecowatch Network. The portal provides access to data gathered by the young people participating in these projects in Quebec and Ontario. The portal also provides public access to the raw data collected, the mapped results, metadata, and a series of information updates in lay terms on the different parameters studied, including the aquatic species encountered during the projects.
Organization: Comité de valorisation de la rivière Beauport
Project manager:
Tony Denis
Web Site : www.biosphere.ec.gc.ca or www.cvrb.qc.ca
Canada Water Accounts: From Science to Information
The demand for fresh water is highest in the southern parts Canada due to population levels and rates of evaporation from agriculture and forestry. This project provides, for the first time, a national synthesis of water budget components at sub-sub-basin scale. These components currently include precipitation (rain and snow together) and evaporation on an annual basis from 1960 to 2000. The information presented is derived using computer models that aggregates point climate station data and land surface conditions observed using satellite remote sensing. As such, the water budget information is best suited for analysis using spatial and temporal trends (rather than absolute quantities at a given geographic location). Furthermore, for the first time, data from this project combined with runoff measurements from Environment Canada's HYDAT system, can be used to estimate trends in water availability across Canada.
Organization:
Natural Resources Canada
Project manager: Richard Fernandes
Data of Atlantic Community Aquatic Projects (Data ACAP)
The Data of Atlantic Community Aquatic Projects (Data ACAP) enhances the sharing and exchange of water quality data by helping community groups from Atlantic Canada publish their water quality data on-line using Map Web Services.
This project provides a more detailed inventory of water data from Atlantic Canada which currently exists in a variety of organizations. It promotes a more consistent and efficient sharing of water data between groups and provides a basis for the adoption of Open Geospatial Consortium compliant data sets.
Currently Southeast Environmental Association is working with four groups:
- Ducks Unlimited Canada - Atlantic Water Control Structures
- Southeast Environment Association - Clean River Quest
- Humber Arm Environmental Association - Trading Books for Boats
- Clean Annapolis River Project - River Guardians
Organization:
Southeast Environmental Association
Project manager: David Boyce
Web Site : www.seapei.ca
Ecology of Sackville First Lake
An exciting project from Sackville High School in Nova Scotia that engaged students and teachers in publishing and presenting water quality data collected by students at the lake located behind their school. Students from Science, English, French Language Arts, Film and Video Production, Geography and the school's learning centre were involved in this multi-facetted project. Students presented their final results to community leaders as part of the project.
Organization: Sackville High School
Project manager: Marilyn MacGibbon
Web site: www.sackville.ednet.ns.ca
Engaging Ontario Communities to Participate in CGDI
Through the Watersheds InfoXchange (WIX), the Centre for Sustainable Watersheds empowers communities to become more involved in protection of their water resources. WIX is an interactive on-line tool for managing community water quality monitoring data and also provides access to Ontario government water quality data, including the Provincial Water Quality Monitoring Network and the Lake Partner Program. The site also provides access to monitoring protocols and collection of metadata to help develop higher quality, more useable community-collected data.
Organization: Centre for Sustainable Watersheds
Project manager: Sarah Rosolen
Web site: www.ontariowatersheds.ca
An Infectious Disease Application for RésEau
This project has two components:
- A waterborne disease outbreaks module
- A mapping application to illustrate the incidence rates for reportable diseases related to waterborne disease in New Brunswick.
The waterborne disease outbreaks module identifies a selected number of waterborne disease outbreaks that have occurred since 1974. Outbreaks are spatially located by the town or city in which they occurred and provides information on outbreak specifics such as number ill, factors associated with causing the outbreak. Furthermore, publications related to the outbreak can be obtained by clicking on the outbreak location.
Incidence rates for reportable diseases related to waterborne disease for New Brunswick are mapped to the watershed level. Users can view the incidence rates for one of five different causative agents ( Campylobacter, E. coli, Giardia, Salmonella and Shigella). A graph showing monthly pathogen specific incidence rates over time is displayed for selected watersheds.
Organization:
Public Health Agency of Canada
Project manager: Dominique Charron
Estimating Annual Chemical Loads for the Pacific and Yukon Region Water Quality Network
This project combines water quality and water quantity data collected in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory to calculate annual chemical loads through the use of several statistical estimators. A module has been developed to help users select the appropriate statistical estimators depending on the specific location of the monitoring stations.
Once accurately estimated, chemical loads information can be incorporated into other predictive models (i.e. nutrients and sediment transport) to generate further water quantity and/or water quality information at the regional site level.
Organization:
Environment Canada
Project manager: David Hutchinson
Know-Your-Watershed
The Know Your Watershed (KYW) project provides Canadians with on-line access to a map of the watershed they live in, as well as a growing list of related watershed information.
Currently, this information includes web sites from federal and provincial governments, local environmental organizations, towns which share the watershed as well as upstream and downstream basins. Future content will include local photographs submitted by schools, water quality indicators, water levels, and water use information.
In addition to the KYW web site, a series of services have been built by the project which can be re-used by other application developers (e.g. placename-watershed lookup, watershed profile table).
Organization: Natural Resources Canada, Environment Canada
Project managers: Peter Paul, Liz LeFrancois
National Real-Time Hydrological Conditions Mapping
This Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) compliant web mapping application presents current (near real-time) water level conditions from more than four hundred river and lake gauging stations across Canada. Colour-coded symbols are used to represent water level conditions ranging from low to high and are dynamically generated based on the most recent data available in comparison with historical statistics.
This simple mapping application allows users to assess current water conditions across Canada and to "drill down" to more detailed data and information at the station level. The stations are presented in the context of the national drainage area framework.
Organization: Environment Canada
Project manager: Dave Harvey
On-line Distribution of Data and Information on the Water Quality of the St. Lawrence River
This project provides public access to data on nutrient concentrations at two water quality monitoring stations in the St. Lawrence River to users of the RésEau portal via a transparent database. The database is ready to receive data from future water quality research projects. It will therefore be possible to enter data and query the database on an ongoing basis.
Organization:
Environment Canada
Project manager:
Bernard Rondeau
Pathways-Phoenix: Web Portal for Decision Support in Sustainable Water Management
Pathways-Phoenix (PW-Phoenix) is a web application that enables scientists, decision-makers and the public to share water information. PW-Phoenix enables users to create projects, populate them with map-based and text-based information, manage this information using the web and deliberate over it by setting task plans, conducting polls, surveys and sharing news. This application is compliant with Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) standards for sharing geospatial information, and allows both the functionality and user interface to be customized for specific applications. The software is available via free download from Natural Resources Canada's Web site and the RésEau portal.
Organization:
Natural Resources Canada
Project manager: Boyan Brodaric
Prince Edward Island Public Internet Water Data Access Project
This project provides Canadians with access to public Prince Edward Island (PEI) water data over the Internet. The access is dynamic, meaning that automatic linkages will be ongoing between various databases housing the data held by both the PEI Department of Environment, Energy and Forestry (DEEF) and Environment Canada (EC).
Benefits include wider public exposure to water data, educational promotion of environmental issues, increased data availability for scientific assessment, and a reduction of staff efforts to respond to requests for data. The process is also a demonstration of government transparency of its work to the public.
The types of data available include water quality (ground and surface water), groundwater observation well water levels and well drilling logs. This data is available through a web mapping front entry portal which facilitates searching for data.
Organization:
Prince Edward Island Department of Environment, Energy and Forestry
Project manager: Bruce Raymond
Seasonal Waters Monitoring and Reporting System (SWMRS)
The Seasonal Waters Monitoring and Reporting System is a web-based data entry system for the collection and dissemination of bacteriological information for swimming beaches on the Great Lakes.
The project highlights the need for municipal Health Units to adopt a standard monitoring and reporting system that will display beach closure and posting information to local, provincial and federal governments and the public in a timely manner and in a centralized place.
Organization: Environment Canada
Project manager: Nancy Stadler-Salt
Water Consumption Calculator for Youth and Citizens
Developed by Environment Canada's Biosphere, the Water Consumption Calculator helps Canadians calculate how much water they use and identify ways to reduce their daily consumption. In addition, users can compare their level of consumption against the Canadian national average and average rates of consumption elsewhere in the world.
A second component to this initiative is Project H2O which focuses on educating youth on the importance of protecting and conserving Canada 's water resources. Developed in partnership with the City of Montreal and teachers from the Montreal region, this project is designed to assist teachers in educating their students on a variety of water related issues.
Organization: Environment Canada
Project manager: Serge Lepage
Web Coverage Service for Groundwater Information
The Web Coverage Service for groundwater information provides users with access to groundwater related data as International Standards Organization (ISO) Coverage. Contrary to simple map services (WMS), which return information rendered as a graphic, the Web Coverage Service provides the information unaltered (without rendering), which allows the client application to process the data by itself.
Organization:
Natural Resources Canada
Project manager: Eric Boisvert
Groundwater Quality Information System
This project pertains to the development of a groundwater quality information system on a national basis. At this stage of development, two water quality parameters, perchlorate and arsenic, are the primary examples. Groundwater quality data for perchlorate and naturally occurring arsenic are currently being collected (e.g. perchlorate) and compiled (e.g. arsenic) on a national scale by Environment Canada (NWRI), through ad hoc and formal arrangements with various levels of government.
The national distribution of perchlorate and arsenic in groundwater is currently poorly understood in Canada and requires spatial analysis with science-based tools to better understand their potential impacts and identify information gaps. Knowledge of the distribution of arsenic is particularly essential, especially considering the new lower guideline recently established by Health Canada .
In order to manage and present these groundwater data more effectively to government and the public, a groundwater quality information system will be designed and constructed to conform with federal database requirements and allow for inclusion of additional groundwater parameters (e.g. nitrate, chromium, chlorinated solvents) in the future. This information system will utilize web services and web mapping capabilities to interrogate the underlying groundwater information system on a national scale. It is based on quality control information and integrated data for different spatial scales according to geochemical properties for the selected chemicals. It is intended to follow the mapping approach provided by the United States Geological Survey for arsenic.
Organization: Environment Canada
Project manager: David Lam
Core Project Demonstrations - Scientific
Biological measurement of water quality (BugML)
Canada is a challenging location for an aquatic biomonitoring program. Its combination of large land area and low population density requires new thinking to achieve the quantities and scales of data coverage for national reporting of status and trends within the nation's inland aquatic ecosystems.
The Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network (CABIN) has initiated the development of a new XML standard aimed at supporting the integration of biomonitoring data from distributed data sources.
As a first step towards the development of BugML, a workshop was held on March 13 th and 14 th 2006 in Mississauga , Ontario . The aim of the workshop was to introduce a draft BugML schema to small group of people, in order to facilitate discussion and identify key requirements.
A summary report from this workshop, including an initial draft BugML schema, summary information from discussion groups, and a roadmap for future work is currently being completed.
Organization: Environment Canada
Project managers: Donald Baird, Timothy Pascoe
Web site: http://cabin.cciw.ca
Canada and Newfoundland/Labrador Aqua Link (CANAL)
The Canada and Newfoundland/Labrador Aqua Link (CANAL) is a web site that has been built in partnership with the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Environment and Conservation and Environment Canada over the past three years.
The site is focused on delivering ambient water quality information to the public and provides dynamic access to station descriptions, data and metadata for over 100 shared water quality stations throughout Newfoundland and Labrador .
Each year, new tasks and deliverables are identified at yearly water agreement meetings and subsequently appended to the existing Federal-Provincial Water Agreement. Much of the CANAL work has been supported through the Canadian Information System for the Environment (CISE) and GeoConnections initiatives.
Recent work on the delivery of interoperable web services and real time data was funded within RésEau. Other RésEau deliverables include station descriptions pages, the development of an automated water quality index calculator, provision of bacteriological information, dynamic charting, and the ability to download data directly from Environment Canada's water quality database.
Organization: Environment Canada , Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Environment and Conservation
Project managers: Sarah Hall, Hasseen Khan
Web site: http://map.ns.ec.gc.ca/canal/root/main/main.asp
Increasing the comparability of water quality data in Canada
Water quality is monitored by a variety of different organizations for a number of different purposes in Canada . As a result, similar water quality contaminants are analyzed by many different laboratories and instruments across the country. Data from one organization can not always be directly compared with another in a scientifically credible manner.
A key RésEau demonstration effort is a detailed comparability assessment of a large of amount of national-scale water quality data. These data are collected by either Environment Canada or jointly with its provincial partners. The comparability assessment is based on comparisons of thousands of parameters and their associated laboratory analytical methods. (It does not include sampling techniques, statistical validation or other factors.)
Visit the RésEau News science feature article to learn more.
Access to Water Quality Data
One of RésEau's key objectives is to improve access to national water data and information. Therefore, an important and unprecedented demonstration has involved facilitating access to a vast amount of Environment Canada's water quality information - including direct access to sets of national-scale water quality data.
The data comparability efforts described above have been a necessary foundation for this work to ensure that the data provided could reliably compare to one another in a national context. Data accessible through the RésEau search tools has first undergone a data comparability assessment.
Access the RésEau Monitoring Sites and Data Search.
Analytical Methods for Water Quality
In support of scientific data comparability efforts, a comprehensive manual of analytical methods for water quality has been compiled. As an initial focus the manual documents physical, nutrient and metal parameters. The laboratory analytical methods for key parameters are detailed along with the associated VMV codes.
Pockwock-Bowater Watershed Study
The Pockwock-Bowater Watershed Study is an on-the-ground, forestry-based, ecosystem research project. The primary focus is to measure the response of stream water (quality and quantity) when forest harvesting occurs and special management zones (SMZ) are maintained. The study also examines the compounding effect of acid precipitation on nutrient cycling in the system.
The Project concept was developed through collaboration between Environment Canada, Ecosystem Science, and Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources (NSDNR), Forestry Division. NSDNR was developing regulations to require special management zones along watercourses and Environment Canada had been conducting a research project in association with the Fundy Model Forest on the effectiveness of riparian zones at Hayward Brook, Southern New Brunswick . The intent was to transfer what was learned at Hayward Brook, as well as the research design, to a site in Nova Scotia . The goal was to gain a broader understanding of SMZ function.
Visit the RésEau News feature article to learn more.
Core Project Demonstrations - Technical
Enhancing Real-Time Mapping Using the OGC Web Map Context Documents Specification
Focussing on leading-edge mapping capabilities, RésEau used the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Context (WMC) Documents Specification to allow a user to search, visualize, and access live web services. Users are able to search and discover services stored in the RésEau geospatial web services catalogue, and subsequently map them.
Development of a Web Services Catalogue model and service using the OGC Web Feature Service (WFS) standard were used in the creation of a RésEau catalogue that contains all of the services generated for RésEau projects.
This catalogue stores station level metadata for all of RésEau's contributing partners and enables the discovery of sampling sites (stations) which meet search criteria such as keyword and topic. This approach allows the user to discover which stations measure a particular parameter and then plot this information on a map. Data download and display is also enabled at this level for some of the stations.
Explore the RésEau search tools to learn more
Exploring the Use of SensorML to Deliver Station-Level Water Information
The growing adoption of OGC
Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) standards and technologies to deliver station level metadata has been explored as a key RésEau demonstration to provide monitoring information in an internationally-recognized format.
Previous efforts in facilitating access to information have focussed on providing users with descriptive information about monitoring programs, their stations, and which parameters are measured at a particular station. New efforts under RésEau respond to users' desire to progress further to access raw or interpreted data at a station once introductory information has been provided.
A Sensor Observation Service (SOS) standard was used given its potential contribution to the future delivery of Canadian monitoring data. The SOS standard is easily transferable beyond water monitoring activities to any environmental variable, both sample-based, and in-situ. The use of the SOS has also been explored by Natural Resources Canada.
Explore the RésEau Monitoring Sites search to learn more
Using GeoRSS to Provide Dynamic On-Line News
Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds are on-line news feeds which are used to deliver web-based news following a set of standards . RSS feeds are a growing, technologically advanced means of delivering news-related information.
GeoRSS is a further functionality for RSS that allows the news feeds to be described by location or geotagged (associating a geographic location to the news information).
RSS feeds were explored with the RésEau newsletter - RésEau News . The GeoRSS standard was also used to geocode and provide dynamic maps to accompany each newsletter article .
Visit RésEau Newsletters and Reports to learn more.
Core Project Demonstrations - Capacity Building
Partnership Workshops and Collaboration
Over the course of the RésEau initiative, three workshops brought together the diverse range RésEau partners from federal, provincial and community organizations across Canada .
The workshops ensured that each stakeholder in the RésEau initiative had a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities thereby paving the way for the effective integration of partner projects into the RésEau portal.
At these workshops, participants showcased their projects and received feedback and technical assistance from the RésEau team. Additionally, the workshops were a venue for partners to network and explore opportunities to collaborate on future initiatives.
As a result of these dynamic and consultative workshops, RésEau contributes to a more complete picture of water information for Canadians.
The workshops were held the following dates and locations:
March 22-23, 2005 - Ottawa (Ontario)
October 18-19, 2005 - Biosphere, Montreal (Quebec)
February 13-15, 2006 - Gatineau (Quebec)
Core Project Demonstrations - Communications
RésEau Communications and Outreach Activities
Communications activities were a key component of RésEau achievements and successes. A suite of communications tools was developed to promote the initiative, including brochures, display systems, posters, one-pagers, and electronic newsletters.
The RésEau team has also conducted an ongoing outreach campaign that includes presentations at environmental policy workshops, geospatial data conferences and water related events - both nationally and internationally.
This interactive Web portal forms the dynamic focal point of RésEau - the portal comprises the Freshwater Data and Information corner of the Sustaining the Environment and Resources for Canadians (SERC) Web site. This portal includes data, interpreted information, tools, and services to facilitate the interconnection of water information.
Validating User Requirements
User needs assessments have been conducted throughout RésEau's development, both formally and informally. A research-based user needs assessment was conducted with a small sample of regionally selected water resource managers to enhance the value of various RésEau tools and capabilities. User needs information was also collected through secondary analysis of related research and in an informal fashion through various workshops and networking opportunities with water stakeholders.
To validate the approach taken for a youth target audience, a consultation session was held with the Youth Round Table on the Environment (YRTE). The YRTE is comprised of 18 youth, aged 14-26, from across Canada who sit in a voluntary capacity to provide input on Environment Canada's programs. The RésEau team sought out an opportunity to meet with this group to gain feedback on RésEau outcomes and activities. As youth are identified as a key audience for RésEau, this feedback was significant in identifying how RésEau could effectively meet the needs of a youth audience.
