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Edmonton Projects and Programs
Les Project and Programmes d’Edmonton
Edmonton’s newest funded project aims to restore the environment and conserve wildlife and habitats from pollution in the North Saskatchewan River using Canada’s new recreational water guidelines.
At Swim Drink Fish, our vision is to connect everyone with water that is swimmable, drinkable, and fishable! In our newest project in Edmonton, we aim to bring our goals to the public by testing four locations in the North Saskatchewan River year-round. This program has a few main goals:
Help fish populations and habitats thrive
Empower communities to take action
Build water literacy through outreach and engagement
Creating new tools to monitor sewage pollution in rivers
Engaging with local stakeholders
If an ecosystem is protected, and healthy enough to support all fish and their habitats, the waters are clean enough for swimming, drinking, and fishing. We need to protect our most precious resource: water!
Monitoring Sites/ Sites de Surveillance
Edmonton’s newest program will focus on four locations along the North Saskatchewan River, including:
Program Timeline/ Chronologie du Programme
August 15, 2024
Swim Drink Fish identifies a suitable community of stakeholders, including academic, non-profit, and regional water use groups to join the project.
Swim Drink Fish launches the beginning of its program! The team plans to welcome on a new water monitoring staff member at the Edmonton Hub, and work begins on connecting with the community. New water monitoring equipment is secured for water sampling.
April 1 - August 15, 2024
New staff member begins training and water quality monitoring begins! Environmental Health and Safety Surveys are conducted at each of the outlined sites to determine the cleanliness and ecological elements present at the different beaches. Swim Drink Fish begins to reach out in the local community to encourage volunteering with the Edmonton program.
July 31 - October 31, 2024
We will host two roundtable meetings with stakeholders to select appropriate monitoring sites and choose new tools, methods, and protocols to support water sampling.
April 1, 2025 - March 31, 2026
Swim Drink Fish will design and develop standard operating procedures (SOP), new community-based water quality monitoring tools to test for pollutants found in sewage. New tools will be tested over 16 weeks of water monitoring in the North Saskatchewan River. Community volunteers will continue to be engaged in monitoring activities using these new methods.
In collaboration with the stakeholder committee, Swim Drink Fish will review monitoring tools and results and encourage feedback on current operations. Facilitate discussion with stakeholders to inform the Final Project Report for the monitoring sites.
March 1, 2026 - March 31, 2027
Swim Drink Fish and community scientists will continue to test the new tools and methodologies developed in the previous year.
Swim Drink Fish will complete the Final Project Report with continued guidance from stakeholders. The report will include complied resources related to water monitoring tools and methodologies. A public launch of the Final Project Report will be shared with communities and on our website. The SOP will be refined through continued field testing, with a finalized SOP reviewing three new tools for the public to access through the Swim Drink Fish website.
Program Updates
Mises à jour du programme
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We are currently partnering with 16 different stakeholders on this project. Each of the involved organizations and councils play a unique role in helping to establish this program through recommendations, advice, and guidance.
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Our program aims to directly collaborate with Indigenous Peoples on research design and consultation to improve local water quality through traditional ecological knowledge. At the start of this project, Swim Drink Fish is fortunate to announce that we will work alongside the following nations:
Saddle Lake Cree Nation
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If you would like to volunteer as part of this project, contact alex@swimdrinkfish.ca
Si vous souhaitez faire du bénévolat dans le cadre de ce projet, contactez alex@swimdrinkfish.ca