The Pockwock Lake Study assesses water quality impacts from forest harvesting activities on a lake used as a municipal water supply. It also contributes to the development of forestry best management practices and a forest hydrology model which can be used to guide future harvesting policies and practices. Partners in this project include Halifax Regional Water Commission (HRWC) , Environment Canada, NS Dept of Natural Resources, Canadian Forestry Service, and Nova Forest Alliance.

Water samples are collected by NSEL and HRWC staff at various depths from mid-lake and outlet locations, and submitted to a laboratory for analyses. A Hydrolab multi-probe provides continuous data for 5 parameters at the withdrawal point for the drinking water supply. Water quality parameters involved are those necessary to assess acidification, eutrophication, and siltation issues including pH, conductivity, colour, turbidity, TSS, major ions, nutrients, chlorophyll a, transparency, and selected metals. Monitoring frequency at the initiation of the project was monthly, and subsequently reduced to 4 times / year .

Data has been collected since 1999 and stored in electronic format. For more information see the report entitled Pockwock Lake Water Quality Assessment 2004 (PDF:357k), Pockwock / Bowater Watershed Study - Technical Bulletin (PDF:1.3mb) , or the Pockwock Bowaters Watershed Project website .