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→Environmental Effects Monitoring
The scale of environmental effects monitoring may be at the stream reach, subwatershed, watershed or community scale. Sites must be carefully selected to ensure that the impact of stormwater management measures that are being assessed have the potential to have a significant impact on the receiving watercourse. In practice this means that runoff from the assessed drainage area represents at least 50% of total flow within the receiving water system (otherwise system response to land use changes and/or management measures may be difficult to detect with statistical significance).
The scale of environmental effects monitoring may be at the stream reach, subwatershed, watershed or community scale. Sites must be carefully selected to ensure that the impact of stormwater management measures that are being assessed have the potential to have a significant impact on the receiving watercourse. In practice this means that runoff from the assessed drainage area represents at least 50% of total flow within the receiving water system (otherwise system response to land use changes and/or management measures may be difficult to detect with statistical significance).
In addition to detailed assessments of receiving water health, environmental effects monitoring should also include monitoring of significant point sources of contaminants as well as major stormwater management practices treating water discharged to the area of interest. This allows for meaningful relationships to be developed between contaminants sources, management measures and environmental conditions. In addition to precipitation and air temperature, general environmental parameters that may be measured in environmental effects studies may include those listed in Table 1.
In addition to detailed assessments of receiving water health, environmental effects monitoring should also include monitoring of significant point sources of contaminants as well as major stormwater management practices treating water discharged to the area of interest. This allows for meaningful relationships to be developed between contaminants sources, management measures and environmental conditions. In addition to precipitation and air temperature, general environmental parameters that may be measured in environmental effects studies may include those listed in the table below:<br>
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{| class="wikitable" style="width: 900px;"
|+'''Key parameters of interest in environmental effects monitoring studies'''
|-
!<br>'''Discipline Name'''
!<br>'''Area of Focus'''
!<br>'''Example Indicator'''
|-
|'''Hydrogeology'''
|[[Groundwater]]
|baseflow and groundwater levels
|-
|'''[[Existing hydrology|Hydrology]]'''
|stream flow regimes
|temporal trends, time series flows
|-
|'''[[Natural drainage|Terrestrial Natural Heritage]]'''
|forests, meadows, [[wetlands]], shorelines and their [[plants|flora]] and fauna,
|quantity of natural cover, vegetation communities
|-
|'''Fluvial Geomorphology'''
|stream form and channel shaping processes
|channel stability, [https://www.peelregion.ca/pw/transportation/construction/environmental-assessment/_media/appendix-i-fluvial-geomorphic-assessment.pdf Rapid Geomorphic Assessment (RGA protocols)]
|-
|'''[[Water Quality]]'''
|water chemistry, benthic invertebrate species, populations and communities
|parameters of concern, community composition
|-
|'''Aquatic Biology'''
|fish species, populations and communities
|Index of Biotic Integrity, [https://trca.ca/conservation/environmental-monitoring/technical-training/ontario-stream-assessment-protocol/ Ontario Stream Assessment Protocol (OSAP) protocols]
|}<br>
</br>