Thinking Water: Community Environmental Monitoring In Saint John (2022-2023)

This report summarizes the results of ACAP Saint John’s 2022 Thinking Water project. This project aims to assess the general water quality of streams within the Greater Saint John Area, including tributaries of the Wolastoq (St. John River) and the Saint John Harbour. The Thinking Water project remains significant in a city with a long history of human and industrial influences within waterways. ACAP Saint John has been conducting water quality monitoring in Saint John and its surrounding areas for over 30 years, providing a long-term dataset that can be used by managers and other organizations.

In 2022, ACAP Saint John continued to analyze the water quality of 27 sites in freshwater streams and estuaries within the Greater Saint John area. Water quality index (WQI) values were calculated from field and lab measurements including water temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, salinity, turbidity, ammonia (as NH3), orthophosphate (as P), and Escherichia coli (E. coli) concentration, collected between May and October. No sites had “excellent” water quality in 2022, while only three sites had “good” water quality as determined by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) water quality index calculations. Of the remaining sites, ten were in “fair” condition, eight were in “marginal” condition, and six were in “poor” condition. The sites with the poorest water quality index include five out of seven Marsh Creek sites, Newman’s Brook Downstream, and Hazen Creek Mouth. Mean phosphate concentrations exceeded the threshold limit at 21 of 27 sites (77.7%) while ammonia and E. coli concentrations exceeded the recreational limit at 11 of 27 sites (40.7%). These water quality issues are a persistent problem in these watersheds, indicating stormwater or sewage inputs and other sources of contamination still have considerable impact on the Saint John region. 

ACAP Saint John also evaluated biotic communities across eight sites within the Saint John Harbour by quantifying the abundances of fish and invertebrates caught at these sites using beach seines and fyke nets in 2022. This work is part of a large monitoring program focused on developing an environmental baseline for the region. In 2022, a total of 6516 individuals representing 25 species were caught, with the majority of the catch comprised of sand shrimp (Crangon septemspinosa).