Mayor's Report - November 2009

In October 2008 I reported on Metro Vancouver's Burrard Inlet Ambient Monitoring Program to assess ambient conditions through water, sediment, fish health and fish tissue chemistry (biota) monitoring in the Outer Harbour, Inner Harbour, Central Harbour, Port Moody Arm, and Indian Arm of Burrard Inlet. The program has three monitoring components: water quality, sediments and biota. Water quality monitoring was first undertaken in 2007 and has continued on an annual basis. Sediment monitoring commenced in 2008 and is scheduled on a bi-annual basis. Biota monitoring was undertaken in 2007 and is scheduled on a 3-year cycle.

A report on the program for the 2008 monitoring period was recently presented to Metro Vancouver's Environment and Energy Committee accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation. The results of the water quality, sediment and biota sampling undertaken in 2008, reviewed by an Environmental Monitoring Committee comprised of regulatory agencies and academics, indicate that:

• The water quality in Burrard Inlet is satisfactory and supportive of aquatic life. Water and sediment chemistry results indicate the overall water quality within the assessed areas is improving when compared to the historical studies between 1985 and 2006.
• The Lions Gate wastewater treatment plant and eight Metro Vancouver combined sewer overflow locations are only a few of the approximately 1,200 point and non-point source discharges into Burrard Inlet. The water and sediment qualities appear directly related to those many discharge sources and to physical oceanographic factors. Nonetheless, total metals levels indicate decreasing concentrations throughout the Inlet (excluding Indian Arm) in water. The dissolved oxygen concentrations from the deep-water samples indicate lower levels, while the microbiological results consistently indicate higher levels in the Outer, Inner and Central Harbours.
• English sole has been historically used as a key species in fish biota monitoring studies. However, the fish biota results obtained in this assessment are not consistent with the monitoring results for water and sediment quality in Indian Arm, as the migratory patterns of English sole appear to cover the entire area of Burrard Inlet and are not reflective of a specific localized study area. Further investigation through the selection of a key species that are sedentary would complement the results obtained in this study.
• The overall environmental quality within Burrard Inlet has been positively changing through the initiatives that have been undertaken by the various municipalities, including sewer separation and reduction in storm water contaminants being discharged into the Inlet.

The conclusions from the 2008 Burrard Inlet Ambient Monitoring Program were as follows: