Adverse water quality from a trio of historic mines in the Tulsequah River watershed, a tributary of the Taku River, have caused concern in local communities including Juneau, Alaska, and Atlin, British Columbia
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Real-time Streamflow of the Taku River Graph
Real-time Streamflow of the Taku River | Historical Water Quality Data | Summary of all Available Data
Adverse water quality from a trio of historic mines in the Tulsequah River watershed, a tributary of the Taku River, have caused concern in local communities including Juneau, Alaska, and Atlin, British Columbia. These mines operated in the early 1900s with the largest and last mine, Tulsequah Chief, closed in 1957. As these mines operated well before environmental laws were enacted, there was no mine remediation plan in place at their closure. The chronology of actions by government and mine ownership since 1957 is documented by Rivers Without Borders. Like the Salmon, the Taku has glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). The Taku can even have two GLOFs in a given year depending on sub-glacial runoff and storage patterns. The USGS studied the Taku GLOFs from 1987 to 2004 as well as water quality from 1998 to 2003. This work is documented in a USGS publication. In the current study, the USGS began sampling the Taku River in May 2019.
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
USGS Transboundary River Monitoring in Southeast Alaska
Suspended-Sediment and Solids Sampling
Unuk River
Super Gages and Water Quality Sampling
Stikine River
Alsek River
Salmon River
- Overview
Adverse water quality from a trio of historic mines in the Tulsequah River watershed, a tributary of the Taku River, have caused concern in local communities including Juneau, Alaska, and Atlin, British Columbia
Return to Water >> USGS Transboundary River Monitoring in Southeast Alaska
Real-time Streamflow of the Taku River Graph
Real-time Streamflow of the Taku River | Historical Water Quality Data | Summary of all Available Data
Adverse water quality from a trio of historic mines in the Tulsequah River watershed, a tributary of the Taku River, have caused concern in local communities including Juneau, Alaska, and Atlin, British Columbia. These mines operated in the early 1900s with the largest and last mine, Tulsequah Chief, closed in 1957. As these mines operated well before environmental laws were enacted, there was no mine remediation plan in place at their closure. The chronology of actions by government and mine ownership since 1957 is documented by Rivers Without Borders. Like the Salmon, the Taku has glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). The Taku can even have two GLOFs in a given year depending on sub-glacial runoff and storage patterns. The USGS studied the Taku GLOFs from 1987 to 2004 as well as water quality from 1998 to 2003. This work is documented in a USGS publication. In the current study, the USGS began sampling the Taku River in May 2019.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.Illustration detailing the Taku River layout. (Public domain.) - Science
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
USGS Transboundary River Monitoring in Southeast Alaska
The USGS Alaska Science Center operates super gages on the Alsek, Taku, Stikine, Unuk and Salmon Rivers. Discrete water quality, sediment, and biological sampling are also collected at each gage location. Discrete water quality samples are also collected annually at the Canada-Alaska border crossings of the Taku, Stikine, and Unuk Rivers. Water quality data collection began in 2018 on the Unuk...Suspended-Sediment and Solids Sampling
Suspended-sediment samples are collected on each visit at both gage and border site locations.Unuk River
The Unuk River is the second smallest watershed in the transboundary study of Southeast Alaska, but has three large mining projects in development (Kerr-Sulplherets-Mitchell (KSM), Brucejack, and Eskay Creek).Super Gages and Water Quality Sampling
Super gages provide real-time data specifically designed to improve understanding of watershed processes and to address specific water-resource issues such as climate and land-use effects or hazardous substance spills.Stikine River
The Stikine River near Wrangell and Petersburg is the largest watershed in the transboundary study of Southeast Alaska.Alsek River
The Alsek River is the furthest north watershed in the transboundary study of Southeast Alaska, reaching 300 miles north of Haines Junction, Yukon Territory.Salmon River
The Salmon River, located near Hyder, Alaska, and Stewart, British Columbia, is the smallest watershed in the transboundary study of Southeast Alaska. - Multimedia