Sylvan Lake Precipitation and Stormwater Runoff in 2015

How much precipitation has fallen on the watershed in 2015? Has is been lower, higher or about average? The answer, according to data from Alberta Agriculture's Hespero weather station west of Sylvan Lake we have received just about the typical historical amount. This graph shows the 2015 cumulative precipitation (red) compared to the average curves …

Nutrient Beneficial Management Practices for Agriculture

About 70% of the Sylvan Lake watershed land is used for agriculture. So water that runs off the land can carry with it dissolved and suspended agricultural residues into the lake. SLWSS and other studies of the composition of streams that discharge into Sylvan Lake confirm that nutrient levels, nitrogen and phosphorus in particular, are always above …

Keep Nutrients on the Land……..Not in the Lake

Alberta Agriculture and Forestry (AB Ag) research on nutrient transport has evolved over two decades is relevant to the situation in the Sylvan Lake watershed. About 67% of the land area within the watershed boundary is used for agriculture. Those uses are also diffuse sources of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) nutrients as a result of the cycle of growth …

The Alberta Geological Survey Takes the Groundwater Lead with the Sylvan Lake Project

The Alberta Geological Survey (AGS), now a part of the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), is the Sylvan Lake watershed’s newest best groundwater friend. We know that groundwater is important because everyone in the Sylvan Lake watershed extracts and uses well water. That underground supply of water is also critical for the rest of Alberta as …

Worker injured while testing flyboarding equipment at Sylvan Lake

A Central Alberta man was seriously injured after testing flyboarding equipment over Sylvan Lake on Sunday afternoon, May 17. Sylvan Lake RCMP arrived at the lakeshore at about 12:45 p.m. to find an injured man being treated by emergency workers. The man, who worked for a local flyboarding rental business, was testing equipment that uses …

Sylvan Lake faces increasing development challenges

For years, Bill Carr’s Sylvan Lake cabin was a quiet escape from the hustle and bustle of city life. Carr has fond memories of visiting the cabin and watching bald eagles, moose and elk from his boat with his children and grandchildren. “It was very, very peaceful. We’d hear loons on the lake constantly in …

Ecosystem Valuation

Decision-making about ways and means to protect and preserve the Sylvan Lake watershed is limited by the lack of information on its value. The methods used by environmental economists who study ecosystems are explained on a website maintained by the US Department of Agriculture. The following paragraph is an excerpt that introduces a few methods …

The SLWSS’ Golf Course Creek 2014 Tributary Project

Here is the project summary: The watershed tributary Golf Course Creek (GCC) added 1065 kilograms of Nitrogen (analyzed as TN) and 120 kilograms of Phosphorus (analyzed as TP) nutrients to Sylvan Lake in the April-September period of 2014. Total Nitrogen and Total Phosphorus compositions of water quality samples and the measured cumulative flow in the …

The Revised Alberta Surface Water Quality Guidelines

Alberta has revised and published surface water quality guidelines (ASWQG) that affect Sylvan Lake. Notable changes are that the previous recommended nutrient limits for Total Phosphorus (0.05 milligrams per litre, mg/L) and Total Nitrogen (1.0 mg/L) have been withdrawn. See the extracted text here: ASWQG-Nutrients & Aesthetics-ab.gov-2014-07-11 One more locally-endorsed reference does exist as a protective standard …

Effects of Septic Fields on Sylvan Lake Water Quality and Public Health

The 2005 study of the watershed by AXYS Environmental included investigations of the nutrient and bacteriological impacts of shoreline properties on near-shore water quality. The goals were in part to determine if that source of nutrient loading of the lake might contribute to blue-green algae growth and to detect if added bacteria might be of public …