Cumulative impacts of hydrology and human activities on water quality in the St. Lawrence River (Lake Saint-Pierre, Quebec, Canada)

Abstract

The cumulative impacts of discharge and human activities on the spatial variations of water quality were assessed from monthly measurements at 80–110 stations in a ~300 km2 widening of the St. Lawrence River (Lake Saint-Pierre, Québec). Water quality was poorest under high discharge conditions and in shallow riparian areas under the influence of small tributaries draining farmlands; spatial variability was amplified by aquatic macrophytes. In 2004, over 40% of the study area exceeded the provincial water quality criterion (total phosphorus = 30 µg P·L–1) to protect aquatic life in rivers. Nutrient retention occurred mostly during summer when macrophytes were abundant and current velocities were low. Erosion of dredged deposits near the navigation channel was observed during summer, when current velocities increased in the deep channel because of flow obstruction by macrophytes growing in shallow areas. Low discharge conditions and high macrophyte abundance sharpened the contrast between the Lake Ontario waters flowing rapidly through the central river channel and the slow-flowing, low-quality tributary waters along the shores. The cumulative effect of high nutrient inflow from urban areas and farmlands, the man-made navigation channel, and seasonal flow obstruction by macrophytes thus induce a marked spatial variability in water quality within Lake Saint-Pierre.