Water chemistry from Saskatchewan lakes

The data rescue intern: Jayme Menard

The water chemistry can identify suitable habitats for fish and the aptitude for spawning and egg survival, which aids in identifying suitability of habitats for fish survival and reproduction. The Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment fisheries branch collected water chemistry data in lakes around Saskatchewan between 1920 and 1990, originally to assess the lakes for fisheries opportunities. 

The dataset is also used with industry partners to identify lakes with viable fish populations and environmental risk assessments to determine the possible disruptions in lakes due to growing industry. In the future, this dataset will be available for applications in fisheries research and limnology, such as  limnologic changes over time, historical baselines for climate change, and historic data for natural and anthropogenic changes. The data will be archived on the Saskatchewan Geohub, accompanying other spatial data, such as HABIsask and Saskatchewan GeoAtlas. This dataset works as a historical baseline for lakes in Saskatchewan from the 20th century and will have more application for future research.