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About water indicators
Alberta’s Environmental Science Program is responsible for monitoring, evaluating and reporting on Alberta’s waterbodies including lakes, rivers and groundwater. These activities help us to better understand current water conditions and long-term changes over space and time. Explore the indicators below to:
- learn more about why these indicators are important
- read about trends and status in Alberta’s water quality and quantity
- access additional data and relevant resources
Explore water indicators
Water quality monitoring results for chloride concentrations.
Water monitoring results for chlorophyll-a and total phosphorus concentrations and Secchi depth.
Water quantity monitoring results for annual and seasonal water yield.
Feature resources
State of the environment report for water quality and quantity in Alberta’s oil sands region
The Oil Sands Monitoring Program released a 2025 report on the state of surface water for rivers and streams in the oil sands region, focusing on 2 main areas—water quality (what’s in the water) and water quantity (how much water there is). The findings provide information to help understand the current state of water quality and quantity in the oil sands area, and how much it has been changing over time and from one place to another.
Learn about the State of the environment for water quality and quantity.
Recent studies on metallurgical coal mining impacts in the Canadian Rockies
Alberta’s scientists have published several studies examining the impacts of metallurgical coal mining in the Eastern Slopes of the Canadian Rockies. This work provides information on conditions and trends in downstream and downwind ecosystems.
Learn more:
- Downstream water quality impacts persist despite mountaintop coal mine reclamation in the Canadian Rocky Mountains
- Mountaintop removal coal mining contaminates snowpack across a broad region
- Legacy coal mining impacts downstream ecosystems for decades in the Canadian Rockies
- Transboundary atmospheric pollution from mountaintop coal mining
- Water quality in the McLeod River as an indicator for mining impacts and reclamation success (2005 to 2016)
Related publications
Scientific paper: Hydrometeorology and landscapes control sediment and dissolved organic carbon mobility across a diverse and changing glacier-sourced river basin
Date published: October 2025
Authors: Emmerton, C.A., J.F. Orwin, C. Buendia, M.R. Christensen, J.A. Graydon, B. Jackson, E. Murray, S. Neufeld, B.W. Newton, R. Ozipko, R. Pickering, N. Taube, and C. Ware
Scientific paper: A geospatial approach to identifying and mapping areas of relative environmental pressure on ecosystem integrity
Date published: September 2024
Authors: Nasr, M. and J.F. Orwin
Scientific paper: Groundwater condition and vulnerability in the Athabasca and Cold Lake oil sands regions: gaps, opportunities and challenges
Date published: September 2024
Authors: Birks, J., J.J. Gibson, J.W. Fennell, C.N. McClain, D. Sayanda, G. Bickerton, Y. Yi and F. Castrillon-Munoz
Water monitoring
Access data and learn about how Alberta’s Environmental Science Program monitors Alberta’s water quality and quantity: Environmental monitoring.
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Condition of the environment