Ecosystem and Watershed Ecology for Sustainable Clean and Healthy Drinking Water.

1. Ecosystem and Watershed Ecology for Sustainable Clean and Healthy Drinking Water. Funding Partners NSERC-Industry Research Chair Grant CRD Water Department Vancouver Water Department BC Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection Crestbrook Forest Industries Galloway Lumber Company BC Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food N. Okanagan Cattleman’s Association BC Beef/Cattle Industries Development Fund Agriculture Agri-Food Canada Health Canada Environment Canada Contributing Research Team Grad Students: W. Nowlin, JM. Davies, C. Meays, B. Matthews, P. Furey, M. Deagle, R. McMackin, D. Bryant, J. Lambert. PDFs & Research Professionals: M. Kainz, S. Verenitch, R. Nordin, T. Peace, Y. Liang, B. Basu, T. De Monoye, S. Thompson, Collaborators: R. Roy (UVic), K. Telmer (UVic), M. Samadpour (UWA), K. Broersma (AAFC), J. Aramini (HC), Asit Mazumder NSERC-Industry Research Program Environmental Management of Drinking Water University of Victoria <www.UVic.ca/water>

2. Quality and Quantity of Drinking Water is a Major Problem • Worldwide, millions of people die each year from contaminated drinking water. • During last four years, Canadians faced several drinking water disasters • Walkerton- Seven people died and 100s became sick. • Battleford - Many people got sick from intestinal disease • Each year 1000s of water supplies in Canada give boil-water advisories. • Recent report says BC has 40% greater incidences of water related disease than any other provinces in Canada. • Majority of these problems start at the source water ecosystems and watersheds, yet very little is done to sustain water quality at the source. • Challenge? To manage the quality of drinking water under unsustainable land/ water-use, poor source water, and failing infrastructure.

3. Why take ecosystem and watershed approach to sustain clean and healthy water? Because problems originate at the source water ecosystems and watersheds. • What are the quality and health indicators of water quality? • Pathogenic bacteria and protozoans- intestinal disease • Excessive nutrients and algae - taste/odour, toxins, disinfection byproducts • Harmful chemicals - pesticides, herbicides, metals, antibiotics and phamacare products • Unfortunately, treatment and disinfection cannot eliminate all of the water quality problems. • While disinfection and filtration can be effective in reducing risk of pathogens, they produce disinfection byproducts with significant health risk and make water supply very expensive and inefficient. • Why not develop source water management and protection to reduce these risks, to provide healthy water, to reduce cost and increase efficiency?

4. Poor quality water at the source increases health risk of drinking water at home. • Source Water Quality • Bacteria, Algae, Pathogens • TOC, DOC, Turbidity, Toxins Coagulation/Flocculation removes colloidal particles by adding certain chemicals (coagulants) Sedimentation Floc settles down to the bottom Storage for disinfection to take place, and for variable water demand Disinfection kill bacteria and other organisms Filtrationremove particles through filters Disinfection Byproducts formed during treatment and disinfection

5. NSERC-Industry Research Chair Program in • Environmental Management of Drinking Water • Our Research at UVic currently cover the following specific aspects: • Watershed processes leading to nutrient, chemical, sediment and pathogen loading to source water. • Aquatic processes regulating source water quality in relation to water level and watershed changes. • Ecology and source tracking of pathogens as a function of land-use patterns. • Production of carcinogenic byproducts in drinking water in relation to source water. • Development of GIS and Remote Sensing based models for land-use patterns and water quality/quantity. • Modeling waterborne disease in BC using medical billing and prescription data. • Reconstruction of historic climatic conditions, land/water use, water quality, and foodweb changes using sediment chronology. • Hg contamination of fish in BC lakes and its health implication * * * * * * *

6. Ecosystem and watershed processes affect the quality of water at the source and the quality of water at the tap. Land-use activities and practices --Agriculture --Farming --Waste disposal --Pesticides / Herbicides --Harvesting --Roads & Highways Quality of source water Bacteria, Pathogens, Humic compounds, Pesticides, Herbicides, Heavy metals Quality of drinking water Human health risks from pathogens, byproducts, metals & contaminants Loading of --Nutrients --Bacteria/Pathogens --Metals/Organics --Humic compounds Aquatic processes modify the impacts of external loading

7. Nutrients (From watershed land-use, sediment and atmosphere) Nutrient-foodweb processes within source water are critical determinants of water quality and the impact external loading of nutrients, chemicals & pathogens. Fish Communities Grazers Small & inefficient grazers Large & efficient grazers Poor Source water Bacteria/Algae Pathogens

8. 1000 100 10 1 Low disinfection efficiency High disinfection byproducts High cost and high health risk 0.1 Dominant Small Grazers 84% 43% Small Grazers Large Grazers TOC (mg/liter) 20 High disinfection efficiency Low disinfection byproducts Low cost and low health risk 15 10 Dominant large grazers 1 10 100 1000 5 <0.2 >2 Nutrients (µg/liter) >2 Grazer Size (mm) 0

9. Increasing concentrations of disinfection byproducts (several of them can produce long-term health problems) Increasing concentrations of biological materials in source water (such as bacteria, algae, dissolved organic carbon) • TOC-DBP relationship • DOC-DBP relationship • Impact of Ozone and UV treatment on DBP formation • Type and intensity of disinfection on DBPs Long-term health impacts of source water quality need more attention.

10. Some of the taste and odor and toxin producing algae in source drinking water.

11. Taste and Odor in Drinking Water

15. Emerging technologies that could help developing robust risk assessment and management tools. • Source tracking of pathogens using ribotyping. • Source tracking of nutrients using stable isotopes. • Foodweb structure (grazers in lakes, reservoirs or streams) to evaluate the aquatic systems capability to minimize external inputs of nutrients, chemicals and pathogens. • GIS and Remote Sensing models quantifying nutrient, chemical and pathogen loading to source water. • Expert system for real time monitoring and assessment of water and watershed conditions. • Water and watershed management strategies based on integrated expert system. • Improved public communication and education based on integrated watershed science.

16. Tracking the sources of bacteria • One of the most recent technology is DNA finger printing to track source of pathogens. • This is a technology that has long been used by food industry. • This technique is capable of distinguishing sources like humans, birds, wildlife (by type) and farmed mammals.

17. Tracking sewage/organic inputs to source water by using stable isotopes of d15N Predicted d15N for 100 people/km2 Range for Cucheon/Elk Lake

18. Detecting sewage/organic inputs to source water 9 8 Anthropogenic 7 6 d15N of Organisms 5 4 Productivity 3 2 1 0 -1 0 1 2 3 Index of: productivity/anthropogenic influence

19. Application of Medical Billing and Services Data from communities is a powerful way of evaluating the health related to water.

20. Integrated Technology for Decision Making * Real-time water quality monitoring and risk assessment * Drinking water and watershed Protection * Sustainable Watershed Management * Prediction of pathogens and health impacts Treatment Distribution Systems Water Quality & Watershed Data Management Simulation of early warning Prototype under development in our laboratory at theUniversity of Victoria Decision making Expert System

21. Advantages of Expert System • Integrates:land-use planning,hydrology, water quality. meteorology, system characteristics • Assesses-Warns: Source water quality, taste and odour events, pathogens, turbidity • Simulates: behavior of system under various natural and perturbed conditions of watersheds and source water • Optimizes: location of instrumentation, operating protocol etc. • Analyses: sensitivity of source system, cause and effect • Assists: provides feedback and guidance e.g. disinfection, source switching, land use planning

22. 12 Annual Consumption (Billion Gallons) 9 6 3 400 Population of Greater Victoria (Thousands) 300 200 100 2700 Annual Rainfall (mm) 2400 2100 1800 1500 1200 900 1895 1905 2015 1965 1915 1975 1985 1935 1955 1925 1945 1995 2005 100-Yr. Mean

23. Sooke Lake and the intake tower supplying water to Victoria. • A 100-year draught in 2000 caused severe water shortage. • Severe drawdown like this causes water quality problems by changing the thermal stability and nutrient release from sediment to water August, 2001

24. Seymour Reservoir of Vancouver Water Supply during October 2002. Heavy Consumption and low rainfall during summer created this historic low level of water. High exposure of sediment has caused extremely high levels of iron and ammonia in drinking water

25. What are the immediate challenges for Canadian communities? • We need to think beyond treating water as the sole solution. We must develop integrated water and watershed science linking source water ecosystems to tap to community health. • Integration science and policies for best land- and water-use practices for clean and healthy drinking water will need: • Clean Water Policies and Guidelines that go beyond treatment and disinfection into short- and long-term human and environmental health. • Multi-barrier approaches capable of assessing health risks from chemical and biological agents in source and supply water. • Province-wide and nation-wide programs integrating ecosystem and watershed knowledge into the quality of source and supply water and community health. • Transfer of integrated understanding of water quality to the utility managers, especially to the managers of small to medium water supplies and communities. • What can government/industries do to achieve the goal of sustainable clean water • Develop enforceable policies and regulations for water and watershed management and protection. • Enhance support for infrastructure, modern analytical facilities, training program and public education.

26. Model Community Watershed Approach for Clean and Healthy Drinking Water • Track/Model sources of • Pathogens • Toxic & organic chemicals • Disinfectants • Waterborne disease • Map watershed with GIS for assessing: • Land use & planning • Loading of pathogens, nutrients & chemicals • Source water quality Characterize watershed and source water quality Assess/model health risks Science Integrate science into community and culture Integration Stakeholders, Managers, Public, Decision Makers Deliver Watershed Science/Technology • Education/Technology • Train managers • Involve communities • Help policy development • Science-based decisions In partnership with communities, industries government and scientists, we have been applying this approach to individual community watersheds for clean & healthy drinking water.

27. Thank you