1996 – 2002 Contaminant Loadings and Concentrations to Hamilton Harbour
March 2004
7.6 Cootes Paradise Contaminants are discharged to Hamilton Harbour from Cootes Paradise. Contaminant loadings are based on the product of estimated flows and measured concentrations. The flow from Cootes Paradise to Hamilton Harbour was not measured. Therefore, a value was estimated assuming that the flow out of Cootes Paradise was the same as the flow in. The flow entering Cootes (Table 35) was obtained from the sum of the flow from the Dundas WWTP and the creeks. The mean flowrate for Spencer Creek was multiplied by a factor of 1.44 to account for flows from Borer, Chedoke, and Ancaster Creeks, which are not monitored by the Water Survey of Canada (1990-1996 Loadings Report, p. 37). Table 35. Average Flow into Cootes Paradise Annual Mean Flow Spencer Creek * (m3/sec)
Annual Daily Flow Watershed Creeks ** (m3/day)
Average Daily Flow Dundas WWTP *** (m3/day)
3.18 2.14 1.52 0.91 1.93 1.61 1.28
395643 266250 189112 113094 240123 200310 159252
18579 15766 14775 15307 16752 16408 16605
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
Average Flow into Cootes Paradise (m3/day) 414222 282016 203888 128401 256875 216718 175857
* Source: Water Survey of Canada, Station 02HB007 (S. Saunders) 3 ** Source: Calculated – Spencer Creek flow (m /sec) x 1.44 x 86400 sec/day *** Source: City of Hamilton (A. Nuxoll)
The Royal Botanical Gardens monitors water quality parameters at two stations at various times during the field season. Station 1 is within 200 m of the Fishway, which is located at the west end of the Desjardins Canal. Station 2 is about 1 km away from the Fishway. For the purposes of this report, the data from the two stations were averaged to produce the concentrations for ammonia, TKN, total suspended solids (seston), and average total phosphorus, listed in Table 36. Table 36. Average Concentration of Parameters in Cootes Paradise (mg/L) Year 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
# of Sample Dates 8 10 11 7 9 11 10
Ammonia 0.07 0.10 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.07 0.06
TKN 2.26 1.11 1.49 1.58 0.94 1.78 1.54
TSS 64 21 41 63 38 59 57
TP 0.18 0.09 0.18 0.27 0.13 0.21 0.15
Source: RBG – Average of Station 1 (200m from Fishway) and Station 2 (1km from Fishway)
Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action Plan
33