A Case Study Approach to Understanding Provincial Aquatic Environmental Effects Monitoring Requirements for Mines

The British Columbia Ministry of Environment regulates mine discharges to water through Environmental Management Act permits. These authorizations specify discharge standards for quality and quantity of contaminants, and specify what monitoring and assessment programs must accompany the discharges. This includes "end of pipe" and "receiving environment" monitoring requirements, which together form an Environmental Effects Monitoring program. The presentation provides 2 case studies of effects monitoring programs for receiving environments: Huckleberry and Equity mines. Together, they provide a snapshot of the range of environmental effects monitoring tools currently in use, and their applicability to mining discharge regulation in Skeena Region.