Project Updates

The BCCF/VIU team will use this page to provide semi-regular project updates, including links to yearly summary reports and overviews of ongoing project work.

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Year 3 Project Update

April 2025 to March 2026 marks the third and final year of the BCCF/VIU 6PPDQ program funded through BC Salmon Restoration & Innovation Fund. Over the past three years, the project team in collaboration with dozens of partnered organizations, have collected over 7,000 samples from 85 waterways at 220 locations. All samples were analyzed for 6PPDQ (and several other structurally related PPDQs) representing the largest 6PPDQ dataset globally. Data collected is shared publicly on the research team’s online data dashboard. Overall, ~26% of all samples collected had 6PPDQ detected at concentrations greater than 10 ng/L, the BC Acute Water Quality Guideline for 6PPDQ. Approximately 40% of stream samples collected during rain events and 75% of point source samples (i.e., stormwater outfalls, drainage from roadways or bridge decks, etc.) on Vancouver Island were observed above the BC AWQG of 10 ng/L.

Click here to read the year 3 summary report.

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Year 2 Project Update

Similar to year 1, the BCCF/VIU team wrapped up spring sampling efforts with volunteers in March 2025, taking a break through the early summer months to re-evaluate data and determine next steps.

Our wide scale discrete sample monitoring resulted in the collection of 2,539 samples (2,303 stream samples, 236 point source samples) from 62 waterways and 148 sites across the east coast of Vancouver Island. The monitoring efforts were undertaken in partnership with 38 organizations (8 First Nations, 28 stewardship groups, staff from the Ministry of Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship, and staff from the Capital Regional District) across Vancouver Island from, from Campbell River, south to Victoria. Volunteers contributed approximately 800 hours between August 2024 and March 2025.

Preliminary trends identified from samples included:

• in-stream concentrations of 6PPDQ vary widely over time and space ranging from less than 1 ng/L to greater than 300 ng/L, depending on the system characteristics such as hydrology, meteorology, and proximity to roads and stormwater outfall;
• peak 6PPDQ concentrations typically occurred during the early phase of the onset of rain event and concomitant rise in stream levels;
• the longer antecedent dry periods resulted in higher 6PPDQ concentrations detected; and
• concentrations of 6PPDQ were greater in smaller streams near large urban population centres compared to smaller population areas and rural environments.

Click here to read the second-year summary report.

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Year 1 Project Update

The BCCF/VIU project team wrapped up the spring sampling efforts with volunteers in March 2024, taking a bit of a break through the early summer months.

In the first year of the project, we worked with 30 different groups, connecting with and training over 150 volunteers. These volunteers contributed over 670 hours to the project between September 2023 and March 2024. With our combined efforts, we were able to sample 123 different locations across 56 waterways between Campbell River and Victoria. Over 2,000 samples were analyzed from 6 rain events and ~33% of the samples had 6-PPDQ detected in them. Overall, ~100 of these samples were above the lethal concentration for juvenile (alevin) coho (41 ng/L) and ~50 of them were above the coho smolt to adult lethal concentration (95 ng/L).

Some preliminary lessons learned were:

• Concentrations observed were very dynamic, emphasizing that the timing of sampling is important;
• There was site-to-site variation in concentrations and how quickly 6-PPDQ appeared following a rain event; and
• The ‘first flush’ is not a once-a-year event – dry periods can have a similar effect.

Click here to read the first-year summary report.