It is important to consider each step of your water monitoring plan before doing any fieldwork. Not only will you need to select when, where, and why you will be monitoring, but also plan training and safety measures for participants, data management and sharing strategies, and plan for the longevity of your program. On this page, you will find resources to help you research, develop, and improve your water monitoring plan as well as plan activities to enhance the health of your watershed.
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Water Monitoring Plan Builder
Atlantic Water Network’s interactive tool can be used to develop and modify a water quality monitoring plan unique to your organization and watershed. The Water Monitoring Plan builder provides guidance on twelve steps, including: goal setting, monitoring logistics, training, evaluation, and sharing knowledge.
URL: https://dev.michael.awnr.jensengroup.ca/water-monitoring-plan/
Contributor: Atlantic Water Network
Background Research
You can search the surface water quality results to find information about the quality of surface water in PEI including sampling locations, downloadable raw data, and graphs.
The New Brunswick Department of Environment and Local Government’s Water Quality Data Portals provide information on the quality of New Brunswick’s major lake and river systems.
An open data portal for water quality data collected by the Government of Nova Scotia.
Browse the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador's water quality resources for lakes, rivers and ponds.
Atlantic DataStream is an open access platform for sharing information on freshwater health. It currently allows users to access, visualize, and download full water quality datasets collected by monitoring groups from Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.
This gallery showcases the Nature Conservancy of Canada's (NCC) Freshwater Conservation Blueprint for the Northern Appalachian–Acadian Region of Canada. The Freshwater Conservation Blueprint is composed of five planning tools: (1) a stream and river ecosystem classification; (2) a watershed health assessment; (3) an aquatic connectivity tool; (4) an Active River Area delineation; (5) a freshwater resilience assessment.
This dataset contains the Watershed Health Assessment (WHA) for the Northern Appalachian–Acadian Region of Canada (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and eastern Quebec).
Overview of the role of the freshwater quality monitoring and surveillance division by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).
Swim Guide is a Swim Drink Fish initiative providing current, reliable, and accessible information on recreational water quality.
Water Rangers is a non-profit focused on inspiring the public to get involved by collecting water data around their local rivers and lakes. The data platform displays data collected by communities using Water Rangers test kits.
The St. Lawrence Global Observatory (SLGO) is an open-access web platform, making available to all data, information and knowledge necessary to understand and effectively manage the ecosystem of the St. Lawrence, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf. SLGO support its members, from data management to their dissemination in specialized visualisation tools.
The Northumberland Strait Saltmarsh Atlas is a collection of information on tidal road crossings and salt marshes that have potentially been restricted from tidal flow. To identify these restrictions, we used a combination of computer research with field research.
Listing of available GIS data from the Province of Prince Edward Island.
GeoNB is the Province of New Brunswick’s gateway to geographic information and related value-added applications.
DataLocator allows users to easily find and download elevation data for free! This data is made available with an unrestricted data licence.
GeoNOVA is the Province of Nova Scotia's gateway to geographic information about Nova Scotia. Access to geographic information is our goal.
The Canadian Aquatic Barrier Database (CABD) is a standardized, curated, central, and open repository for barrier and connectivity data in Canada. It is a tool to support work in a variety of fields and sectors related to freshwater connectivity and aquatic barriers.
This atlas allows users to visualize publicly available data relevant to marine spatial planning on the Atlantic Coast.
The Canadian Aquatic Barrier Database (CABD) is a standardized, curated, central, and open repository for barrier and connectivity data in Canada. It is a tool to support work in a variety of fields and sectors related to freshwater connectivity and aquatic barriers.
The Coastal Carbon Atlas is an interactive web application developed and maintained by the CCN to promote the exploration, query, and download of data from tidal wetlands around the world.
Developing a water monitoring program plan
Advice for choosing a monitoring location for your volunteer monitoring program based on your objectives.
Appendix 2 shares parameters to consider for water uses and discharge types.
This interactive tool provides guidance that can be used to develop and modify a water monitoring plan unique to your organization and watershed. The Water Monitoring Plan builder provides guidance on twelve steps, including: goal setting, monitoring logistics, training, evaluation, and sharing knowledge.
Eastern Charlotte Waterways Inc. created this document to provide an overview of lake monitoring in New Brunswick as well as to describe what volunteer lake monitoring consists of and how to develop a lake monitoring plan.
In order to affect real and positive change, we must shift both their thinking and actions regarding the management of land and water. Learn more about Watershed Planning on Prince Edward Island
Nova Scotia Salmon Association's Adopt A Stream provides funding and technical support to community groups to help improve the quality of aquatic habitat for fish and other wildlife in and around the waterways of Nova Scotia.
Want to set up a community-based monitoring program to track the health of a local body of fresh water? Here is what you need to know....
The British Columbia Field Sampling Manual (BCFSM) sets out QA/QC requirements, sampling procedures, protocols, and equipment that must be followed by permit holders for environmental monitoring and sample collection.
Riparian Health Assessments and Inventory forms help people collect ecological information on riparian areas, either in the form of a rapid survey or a detailed survey which includes vegetation, soil parameters, and hydrology of the area. There are workbooks with detailed steps on how to collect riparian health information and extra field sheets to collect data.
Improving the uptake of citizen science environmental monitoring data by resource management agencies through co-development of data management plans.
Adopt a River is a citizen science-type educational program that immerses students and participating citizens in the protection of water.
This Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) covers work by the Casco Bay Estuary Partnership to
document current condition of, and monitor changes in, tidal wetlands.
The Study Design manual walks groups through the study design process for creating a monitoring program. The template provides an outline for the workshops but can be tailored to each group’s specific needs.
This manual describes the directions and steps necessary for Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring’s Stream Team volunteers to collect credible water temperature, conductivity, pH, and nitrate-nitrogen data.
This guide describes the role of volunteer monitoring in state programs and discusses how managers can best organize, implement, and maintain volunteer programs.
Planning related program activities
The objective of this toolkit is to create a hub of information needed by watershed and restoration groups who want to create a riparian reforestation project.
The Salmon Hub provides users with resources and information on topics related to Atlantic salmon, with special emphasis on the Atlantic provinces and Québec. The go-to resource for salmon conservation: best-practice guides, instruction manuals, videos, scientific research and more.
Over the years the KWRC has developed tried and true restoration techniques for repairing our degraded riparian zones and improving habitats for terrestrial and aquatic species. Based on our extensive experience in restoration over the years, the Riparian Restoration Tool Box is a valuable asset for leading interest groups and community organizations through riparian habitat restoration projects.
The spread of aquatic invasive species, particularly chain pickerel and smallmouth bass in Nova Scotia has given those actively involved in watershed restoration and especially in aquatic connectivity improvement cause for serious concern. The purpose of this document is to provide managers with guidance and a decision framework to assess the risks and benefits to improving fish passage in proximity to aquatic invasive species.
The Indigenous Guardians Toolkit is a place for communities across Canada to learn, share and connect about Indigenous Guardian programs, be inspired by other communities, find practical information, and share experiences.
Complete this form to receive access to the Fish Habitat Enhancement Toolkit.
This Toolkit was developed to support Indigenous Peoples in Canada with planning, implementing, or expanding community-based climate monitoring projects.
National Framework to Identify Fish Habitat Restoration Priorities.
Take Action to Restore Our Coastlines. Find tools and information you need to launch a restoration project in your community.
The Salmon Monitoring Advisor offers an organized, carefully-structured procedure to help users efficiently design and implement salmon monitoring programs that are reliable, informative, and cost-effective. It provides advice and guidelines to help users systematically work through the numerous steps involved in designing, implementing, and analyzing results from monitoring programs to meet particular monitoring objectives.
