Sampling of Septic-impacted Groundwater

Title Sampling of Septic-impacted Groundwater Background Environment and Climate Change Canada is conducting a four-year (2016/17-2019/20) study that is addressing critical knowledge gaps in lake nutrient dynamics and harmful algal blooms in Lake of the Woods in northwestern Ontario. A subproject under this study is an investigation of near-shore loading from cottages and other development. Specifically, this work is focused on investigating the impacts of subsurface septic plumes on Lake of the Woods water quality. This requires installations to sample groundwater in the vicinity of septic systems at several selected sites near the shores of Lake of the Woods. These sites will be selected by Environment and Climate Change Canada.  Objectives The main objective of this work is to collect groundwater samples in the vicinity of septic systems at two sites for the first year and three sites during the second and third year with the option to include one additional site in years 2 and 3 on behalf of Environment and Climate Change Canada. A second objective is to obtain field measurements of relevant groundwater parameters at these sites.