Research - Hydrologic Systems Research Group at Dalhousie University

Our laboratory aims to increase our understanding of how humans alter the water systems, particularly through land cover change activities such as deforestation, urbanization, agriculture, irrigation and wetland loss, and how these changes interact with global climate change, both at the global and Canadian scales. Since changes to the water cycle can impact human health, food production, economic and political stability, as well as the natural environmental systems, our overall goal is to increase the understanding of the water cycle and it is altered by human activity so that we can better mitigate or avoid crises in our water systems.

Current Projects

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1. Nova Scotia Watershed Assessment Program

The Hydrologic Systems Research Group, in collaboration with Nova Scotia Environment, has designed and initiated a Nova Scotia Watershed Assessment Program (NSWAP), that will provide a first survey of the major watersheds of Nova Scotia of their impacts from land cover change, water availability, and vulnerability to climate change. First phase initial results are aimed to be completed by the summer of 2010.

One key output of the NSWAP is to develop a Nova Scotia Water Geodatabase that will facilitate the dissemination of vital watershed information to the researchers, government, and community stakeholders. A second key output are watershed analysis models that will evaluate the watersheds across the province for their health and risks to human impacts, and will identify priority watersheds.

We anticipate the preliminary watershed report cards and watershed map information will be available on this site by Summer 2011.

Additional information - Click here

This project is supported by:

Media Coverage

2. Catchment Liming Experiment in Mill Creek, Nova Scotia

Acid rain has had a devastating impact on the aquatic ecosystems in Nova Scotia. Impacts of the acid rain include the extirpation and population reduction of critical Atlantic Salmonid stocks, and our Nova Scotia aquatic ecosystems have not recovered with the reduction in air pollution. The goal of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of terrestrial lining to help reduce the acidity aquatic habitat in Nova Scotia streams and rivers, and to help the productivity of catchments.
Here we are using a field-based catchment experiment approach in Mill Creek, Nova Scotia. Eventually this information can be used to improve our ability to mitigate and reduce the harmful long-term effects of acid rain in Nova Scotia.

This project is supported by:

3. Barriers to Fish Habitat in Nova Scotia

Dams can reduce the amount of critical habitat for Salmon and other endangered species in Nova Scotia by preventing fish passage. Before this study, locations of critical habitat loss due to water control structures in Nova Scotia have not been identified. This study mobilizes new information available in the NSWAP and Geographic Information Systems is to map how aquatic habitat has been impacted by dams in Nova Scotia. A long term goal of this work is identify key areas for salmon habitat restoration in Nova Scotia.

We are grateful to the following agencies for help on this project:

Completed Projects

1. Drivers of Riparian Forest Removal: a case study of the Sackville River Watershed

A key finding of this work is that land cover type controls the severity riparian deforestation in a major watershed, and that electrical transmission lines and transportation are the key land covers that are driving the deforestation in the watershed. Because these two land covers have been lumped in with "urban" land covers in previous studies, the importance of their contribution to riparian deforestation have not been shown. Moreover, we show that the standard mitigation measure to protect riparian forests, buffer setbacks, are not feasible for these two land cover types; we suggest a new measure to mitigate these types of land cover. Our results have implications for the assessment of environmental impacts from hydroelectric power developments. Our findings draw upon a case study using an extensive air photographic survey and corroborating field analysis. Further, we propose a general model that illuminates patterns of riparian deforestation severity for different types of land cover.

Publications on this work
Rideout, E., S. Sterling. Severity of riparian deforestation is dependent upon the type of adjacent land use/land cover: a study of the Sackville River watershed, Nova Scotia. in review Journal of Environmental Management (JEMA-D-10-01530).

Rideout, E., S. Sterling. Riparian Buffer Removal and Associated Land Use in the Sackville River Watershed, Nova Scotia, Canada. in review Journal of Undergraduate Science Today.

Posters and presentations on this work
Rideout, E., S. Sterling, 2010. Riparian buffer removal and associated land used drivers in the Sackville River Watershed. Atlantic Agricultural Riparian Health Workshop. Moncton NB, September 29-30th, 2010.

Rideout, E., S. Sterling, 2010. Riparian Buffer Removal and Associated Land Use in the Sackville River Watershed, Nova Scotia, Canada. Atlantic Provinces Council on the Sciences. APICS March, 2010.