Grandon Creek, Qualicum Beach, Vancouver Island, BC

Hydrometric & Water Temperature Data Report, 2012-2015

Funded by BC Community Gaming Grants and Living Rivers – Georgia Basin/Vancouver Island

Grandon Creek watershed showing station location.

February 2016

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Introduction

On August 17, 2012, BC Conservation Foundation (BCCF) partnered with the Qualicum Beach

Streamkeepers Society (QBSS) and commenced collection of hydrometric and water temperature data

from Grandon Creek on the east coast of Vancouver Island, northwest of Qualicum Beach, BC. A semi-

permanent hydrometric station was installed and data collected with funding from BC’s Community

Gaming Grant and the Living Rivers – Georgia Basin/Vancouver Island Program. In-kind contributions from

the Ministry of Environment and local regional districts are appreciated. Above all, time volunteered by

QBSS streamkeepers for technical training and field data collection was crucial to the project and is

gratefully acknowledged.

This project helps communities achieve expanded and enhanced water partnerships between people

concerned with stream/ecosystem health and local government, agriculture, business and industry.

Science-based knowledge and tools to enhance resource management practices are critical to support

stream and wetland protection and restoration. The project has synergies with the province’s Living

Water Smart initiative, and it will ensure fish requirements for instream flows are more fully understood

and considered in community water use decisions. Though the project was intended to run for 10 years,

a continuous ongoing data set is preferred and would be most useful to the community faced with the

uncertainties of climate change in the years ahead.

Known as the Improving Water for Fish in Flow Sensitive Streams project, work to date on most streams

has typically focused on the middle and low end of the hydrograph – flood flows were not usually

measured or included in results from other systems. Summer base flows that dictate fish habitat

availability and limit wild fish production have been the project’s priority for documentation. However,

in the case of Grandon Creek, we were able to also measure high flows and produce a complete

hydrograph.

This report summarizes data collected to November 10, 2015 when the station was last downloaded. It

is the first summary circulated for the station; further summaries will be produced as time and resources

allow. Readers interested in additional information on the program should email David James

(info@qbstreamkeepers.ca), James Craig (jcraig@bccf.com) or Shawn Stenhouse sstenhouse@bccf.com.

Methods - Overview

The Grandon Creek station (10 U 393448 m E, 5468235 m N) was established 35 m upstream of Island

Highway 19a and 75 m upstream of where Grandon Creek enters the Strait of Georgia. Drainage area

captured by the station is 7.24 km2, representing 100% of the Grandon Creek watershed (iMap BC). The

station was installed on August 17, 2012 in a concrete culvert outfall pool controlled by a slotted weir. It

consisted of a levelogger housed in a vented steel tube bolted to the pool’s concrete wingwall. To

compensate water level data a barologger was kept 2.2 km east of the station at the home of a local

streamkeeper. A manual staff gauge was installed next to the levelogger housing. Access to the site was

via a short, steep trail on the creek’s west (left) bank, at the corner of Crescent Road West and Beach

Terrace; permission was received from the adjacent landowner and the Town of Qualicum Beach.

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Stage-discharge curves were developed to convert stage height data (h) to discharge (Q). Discharge

measurements were conducted using hand-held water velocity meters (SonTek, model FlowTracker;

Swoffer, model 2100) or a bucket and stopwatch over a wide range of flows, from a low 0.0002 m3/s to a

high of 1.0630 m3/s. Discharge was collected using methods outlined in the Manual of British Columbia

Hydrometric Standards (Province of BC 2009). The highest stage for which a discharge measurement was

made was 0.658 m. The highest stage logged during the entire period of record (0.788 m) was 13 cm

higher. Though we were confident to extend our curve to this stage height, additional flood level

discharge measurements (i.e., >2.0 m3/s) would be beneficial to further refine the upper end of the curve.

The final curve, GC Curve 1, was applicable to 2012 through 2015 stage data, and combined two formulae

to calculate low end and high end flows.

Hourly water temperature data were also recorded by the levelogger and are presented herein.

Results

Grandon Creek station operated in the same location continuously from the date of installation on August

17, 2012 to the most recent download on November 10, 2015 (Fig. 1-3). Over the period of record, mean

monthly discharges ranged from a low of 0.001 m3/s in July and August 2015 to a high of 0.457 m3/s in

December 2014 (Table 1). The lowest minimum instantaneous discharge was 0.0001 m3/s (stage height

of 0.203 m) during the afternoon of July 27, 2015 (Tables 2, 3). The highest maximum instantaneous

discharge was 2.93 m3/s (stage=0.788 m) during the evening of December 10, 2014 (Tables 2, 3). Tables

4 to 7 contain mean daily discharge data for Grandon Creek, from August 17, 2012 to November 10, 2015.

Though it may exist, no historical flow gauging data for Grandon Creek were found to conduct

comparisons. However, based on average unit area discharges from five nearby gauged watersheds, the

1994 provincial Water Allocation Plan1 for the French Creek area estimated mean annual discharge (MAD)

for Grandon Creek at 0.251 m3/s. The watershed area estimate used in the plan was 9.15 km2, 1.91 km2

larger than IMap BC currently indicates. Using the IMap BC derived area, we adjusted the plan’s MAD

estimate to 0.195 m3/s. The plan also used %MAD values to qualify stream habitat condition for fish and

other aquatic species. Based on a modified Tennant Method to determine instream flow requirements,

flows less than 5% MAD were categorized to produce “severely degraded spawning and rearing”

conditions. Based on results from Grandon Creek station, such conditions (i.e., flows <5% MAD or

0.010 m3/s) occurred on 126, 160 and 180 days in 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Figures 4-6 depict hourly discharge and water temperatures over the period of record. Table 8 shows

maximum water temperatures by month. See Appendix A, an Excel spreadsheet entitled Appendix A-

Grandon Creek, for additional data and stage-discharge curves.

1 http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wsd/water_rights/wap/vi/nile_creek/plan.pdf. Nile Creek to Trent River Water Allocation Plan. January 1995. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks.

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Figure 1. Map of Grandon Creek (blue line), showing station in relation to Inland Island Highway 19, Island

Highway 19a, Qualicum Beach and the Strait of Georgia.

Figure 2. Station location on right bank of culvert outfall pool. Figure 3. Station staff gauge and housing.

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Table 1. Mean monthly discharge (m3/s), August 2012 to November 2015.

Values with n/a are from months with incomplete discharge data.

Table 2. Extreme Discharges, August 2012 to November 2015.

Values in italics are from years with incomplete records.

Table 3. Measured Extreme Stage Heights, August 2012 to October 2015.

Values in italics are from years with incomplete records.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

2012 n/a 0.002 0.052 0.206 0.406

2013 0.183 0.095 0.188 0.031 0.037 0.021 0.003 0.003 0.012 0.014 0.060 0.019

2014 0.151 0.259 0.382 0.074 0.006 0.003 0.006 0.004 0.004 0.126 0.232 0.459

2015 0.197 0.369 0.115 0.045 0.004 0.003 0.001 0.001 0.005 0.008 n/a

Mean 0.177 0.241 0.228 0.050 0.016 0.009 0.003 0.003 0.006 0.050 0.166 0.295

Maximum Instantaneous

Discharge (m3/s)

Minimum Instantaneous

Discharge (m3/s)

Maximum Daily Discharge

(m3/s)

Minimum Daily Discharge

(m3/s)

2012 1.56 at 0:00 PST on Dec 2 0.0003 at 0:00 PST on Oct 3 1.22 on Dec 2 0.0009 on Aug 22

2013 1.19 at 22:00 PST on Jan 8 0.0003 at 13:00 PST on Aug 14 0.961 on Jan 9 0.0010 on Sep 12

2014 2.93 at 17:00 PST on Dec 10 0.0002 at 19:00 PST on Sep 9 2.48 on Dec 10 0.0010 on Sep 9

2015 2.16 at 12:00 PST on Feb 6 0.0001 at 13:00 PST on Jul 27 1.75 on Feb 6 0.0003 on Aug 4

Maximum Instantaneous Stage

(m)

Minimum Instantaneous Stage

(m)

Maximum Daily Stage

(m)

Minimum Daily Stage

(m)

2012 0.701 at 0:00 PST on Dec 2 0.208 at 0:00 PST on Oct 3 0.670 on Dec 2 0.219 on Aug 22

2013 0.667 at 22:00 PST on Jan 8 0.209 at 13:00 PST on Aug 14 0.640 on Jan 9 0.220 on Sep 12

2014 0.788 at 17:00 PST on Dec 10 0.206 at 19:00 PST on Sep 9 0.764 on Dec 10 0.221 on Sep 9

2015 0.745 at 12:00 PST on Feb 6 0.203 at 13:00 PST on Jul 27 0.715 on Feb 6 0.209 on Aug 4

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Table 4. Grandon Creek mean daily discharge (m3/s) in 2012 from start up on August 17.

Note: values with n/a are from days with incomplete discharge data.

2012 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

1 0.002 0.002 0.251 1.11

2 0.002 0.001 0.147 1.22

3 0.002 0.001 0.130 0.968

4 0.002 0.001 0.146 0.859

5 0.002 0.002 0.130 0.648

6 0.002 0.002 0.092 0.417

7 0.002 0.002 0.051 0.267

8 0.002 0.002 0.055 0.193

9 0.002 0.002 0.037 0.168

10 0.001 0.002 0.028 0.159

11 0.001 0.003 0.026 0.157

12 0.002 0.004 0.031 0.144

13 0.002 0.016 0.028 0.132

14 0.002 0.226 0.023 0.115

15 0.001 0.149 0.021 0.150

16 0.002 0.100 0.019 0.192

17 n/a 0.002 0.035 0.059 0.268

18 0.002 0.002 0.087 0.186 0.277

19 0.001 0.002 0.112 0.291 0.369

20 0.002 0.002 0.029 0.258 0.489

21 0.001 0.001 0.012 0.326 0.443

22 0.001 0.001 0.008 0.241 0.562

23 0.001 0.001 0.010 0.658 0.752

24 0.001 0.001 0.007 0.462 0.516

25 0.002 0.001 0.006 0.257 0.420

26 0.002 0.001 0.018 0.180 0.397

27 0.002 0.002 0.036 0.142 0.306

28 0.004 0.002 0.025 0.162 0.247

29 0.004 0.001 0.124 0.841 0.241

30 0.003 0.001 0.197 0.891 0.217

31 0.002 0.408 0.196

Mean - - - - - - - n/a 0.002 0.052 0.206 0.406

Max - - - - - - - n/a 0.002 0.408 0.891 1.22

Min - - - - - - - 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.019 0.115

Total - - - - - - - n/a 0.052 1.627 6.170 12.598

Total Dam3- - - - - - - n/a 5 140 530 1090

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Table 5. Grandon Creek mean daily discharge (m3/s) in 2013.

2013 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

1 0.194 0.042 0.445 0.024 0.009 0.084 0.007 0.002 0.003 0.101 0.011 0.031

2 0.162 0.040 0.549 0.022 0.009 0.059 0.005 0.002 0.002 0.064 0.292 0.022

3 0.136 0.037 0.318 0.023 0.008 0.030 0.005 0.002 0.003 0.035 0.132 0.016

4 0.130 0.038 0.217 0.042 0.008 0.024 0.004 0.002 0.002 0.024 0.080 0.013

5 0.128 0.080 0.167 0.051 0.007 0.022 0.004 0.002 0.002 0.018 0.054 0.012

6 0.133 0.161 0.164 0.053 0.006 0.015 0.004 0.001 0.002 0.015 0.044 0.010

7 0.138 0.175 0.133 0.038 0.005 0.013 0.003 0.001 0.002 0.016 0.176 0.008

8 0.436 0.144 0.130 0.025 0.005 0.010 0.003 0.001 0.002 0.014 0.149 0.006

9 0.961 0.112 0.105 0.028 0.005 0.009 0.003 0.001 0.001 0.011 0.100 0.006

10 0.508 0.095 0.091 0.098 0.005 0.009 0.003 0.001 0.001 0.012 0.075 0.007

11 0.290 0.071 0.085 0.097 0.007 0.034 0.003 0.002 0.001 0.010 0.057 0.008

12 0.207 0.058 0.247 0.058 0.027 0.022 0.002 0.003 0.001 0.010 0.051 0.014

13 0.169 0.043 0.190 0.040 0.021 0.013 0.002 0.002 0.001 0.008 0.069 0.016

14 0.153 0.073 0.273 0.030 0.012 0.011 0.003 0.002 0.004 0.007 0.059 0.018

15 0.144 0.076 0.403 0.023 0.014 0.010 0.002 0.002 0.003 0.007 0.055 0.020

16 0.140 0.063 0.253 0.018 0.014 0.009 0.002 0.004 0.011 0.006 0.037 0.019

17 0.133 0.072 0.171 0.016 0.067 0.011 0.002 0.003 0.002 0.006 0.028 0.017

18 0.116 0.059 0.132 0.022 0.027 0.029 0.002 0.002 0.002 0.005 0.034 0.022

19 0.106 0.113 0.136 0.047 0.021 0.012 0.002 0.002 0.002 0.005 0.064 0.017

20 0.100 0.083 0.362 0.043 0.060 0.010 0.002 0.002 0.017 0.005 0.035 0.020

21 0.091 0.062 0.274 0.026 0.108 0.009 0.002 0.001 0.008 0.005 0.024 0.023

22 0.089 0.081 0.209 0.019 0.057 0.010 0.002 0.001 0.012 0.004 0.021 0.035

23 0.121 0.065 0.168 0.015 0.153 0.010 0.002 0.001 0.004 0.004 0.020 0.041

24 0.147 0.077 0.141 0.014 0.074 0.032 0.002 0.001 0.005 0.004 0.019 0.028

25 0.147 0.260 0.124 0.011 0.043 0.019 0.002 0.001 0.004 0.004 0.017 0.024

26 0.133 0.170 0.104 0.010 0.046 0.023 0.002 0.001 0.003 0.006 0.016 0.021

27 0.118 0.142 0.081 0.011 0.047 0.039 0.002 0.002 0.016 0.005 0.015 0.021

28 0.103 0.168 0.058 0.010 0.044 0.019 0.002 0.003 0.021 0.004 0.014 0.020

29 0.092 0.044 0.014 0.061 0.014 0.002 0.016 0.112 0.003 0.016 0.022

30 0.093 0.035 0.010 0.075 0.010 0.002 0.012 0.117 0.003 0.030 0.024

31 0.066 0.031 0.089 0.002 0.004 0.003 0.020

Mean 0.183 0.095 0.188 0.031 0.037 0.021 0.003 0.003 0.012 0.014 0.060 0.019

Max 0.961 0.260 0.549 0.098 0.153 0.084 0.007 0.016 0.117 0.101 0.292 0.041

Min 0.066 0.037 0.031 0.010 0.005 0.009 0.002 0.001 0.001 0.003 0.011 0.006

Total 5.684 2.659 5.839 0.939 1.133 0.621 0.084 0.084 0.366 0.426 1.796 0.582

Total Dam3490 230 500 80 100 50 7 7 30 40 160 50

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Table 6. Grandon Creek mean daily discharge (m3/s) in 2014.

2014 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

1 0.020 0.064 0.356 0.212 0.009 0.003 0.005 0.004 0.003 0.002 0.174 0.162

2 0.042 0.049 0.285 0.175 0.007 0.002 0.007 0.006 0.013 0.002 0.144 0.136

3 0.081 0.037 0.301 0.162 0.008 0.002 0.003 0.004 0.003 0.003 0.157 0.118

4 0.041 0.027 0.298 0.153 0.008 0.002 0.004 0.003 0.003 0.004 0.189 0.099

5 0.031 0.019 0.603 0.144 0.007 0.002 0.005 0.003 0.004 0.005 0.167 0.124

6 0.028 0.015 1.09 0.136 0.006 0.002 0.008 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.245 0.137

7 0.035 0.010 0.623 0.132 0.005 0.001 0.007 0.002 0.004 0.003 0.237 0.121

8 0.037 0.008 1.01 0.121 0.014 0.002 0.009 0.002 0.002 0.002 0.187 0.128

9 0.048 0.007 1.13 0.107 0.009 0.002 0.007 0.002 0.001 0.002 0.176 1.94

10 0.112 0.015 0.533 0.103 0.007 0.002 0.004 0.003 0.001 0.003 0.124 2.48

11 1.57 0.047 0.336 0.100 0.006 0.002 0.005 0.005 0.001 0.012 0.099 1.94

12 0.912 0.217 0.272 0.093 0.005 0.001 0.005 0.004 0.002 0.004 0.088 1.82

13 0.355 0.184 0.227 0.060 0.004 0.001 0.007 0.005 0.002 0.065 0.067 0.848

14 0.209 0.248 0.230 0.012 0.004 0.002 0.008 0.004 0.002 0.016 0.045 0.426

15 0.155 0.305 0.374 0.012 0.003 0.002 0.006 0.007 0.003 0.016 0.042 0.261

16 0.130 0.747 0.481 0.021 0.003 0.001 0.003 0.003 0.003 0.007 0.041 0.216

17 0.113 1.07 0.333 0.047 0.003 0.002 0.002 0.003 0.003 0.010 0.041 0.188

18 0.094 0.795 0.258 0.067 0.003 0.005 0.002 0.007 0.004 0.007 0.044 0.196

19 0.078 0.558 0.238 0.036 0.002 0.008 0.004 0.006 0.002 0.037 0.047 0.341

20 0.059 0.318 0.212 0.026 0.002 0.004 0.003 0.002 0.002 0.044 0.035 0.531

21 0.045 0.224 0.186 0.028 0.002 0.004 0.002 0.003 0.002 0.189 0.093 0.579

22 0.037 0.215 0.168 0.031 0.004 0.004 0.001 0.002 0.002 0.480 0.115 0.314

23 0.034 0.268 0.159 0.025 0.003 0.004 0.022 0.002 0.007 0.273 0.300 0.237

24 0.030 0.254 0.158 0.074 0.002 0.006 0.024 0.003 0.007 0.150 0.268 0.190

25 0.026 0.308 0.175 0.052 0.016 0.007 0.005 0.002 0.008 0.637 0.442 0.146

26 0.025 0.411 0.169 0.031 0.012 0.007 0.003 0.003 0.011 0.498 0.951 0.123

27 0.022 0.427 0.171 0.024 0.021 0.006 0.003 0.003 0.004 0.256 0.705 0.119

28 0.051 0.403 0.207 0.016 0.007 0.003 0.004 0.003 0.004 0.321 0.954 0.105

29 0.078 0.541 0.013 0.005 0.002 0.004 0.003 0.005 0.287 0.514 0.089

30 0.076 0.420 0.012 0.005 0.003 0.004 0.012 0.003 0.297 0.266 0.066

31 0.094 0.289 0.003 0.004 0.005 0.277 0.050

Mean 0.151 0.259 0.382 0.074 0.006 0.003 0.006 0.004 0.004 0.126 0.232 0.459

Max 1.57 1.07 1.13 0.212 0.021 0.008 0.024 0.012 0.013 0.637 0.954 2.48

Min 0.020 0.007 0.158 0.012 0.002 0.001 0.001 0.002 0.001 0.002 0.035 0.050

Total 4.670 7.246 11.835 2.223 0.196 0.093 0.177 0.120 0.117 3.913 6.955 14.221

Total Dam3400 630 1020 190 20 10 20 10 10 340 600 1230

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Table 7. Grandon Creek mean daily discharge (m3/s) in 2015, with data up to Nov 10.

Note: values with n/a are from days with incomplete discharge data.

2015 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

1 0.039 0.083 0.140 0.217 0.006 0.002 0.001 0.000 0.002 0.002 0.068

2 0.039 0.079 0.125 0.146 0.004 0.036 0.001 0.000 0.002 0.002 0.019

3 0.044 0.073 0.098 0.115 0.004 0.004 0.001 0.000 0.001 0.001 0.011

4 0.128 0.061 0.083 0.135 0.004 0.003 0.001 0.000 0.001 0.001 0.008

5 0.524 0.530 0.067 0.125 0.004 0.003 0.000 0.000 0.001 0.001 0.010

6 0.362 1.75 0.048 0.095 0.004 0.003 0.000 0.000 0.006 0.001 0.020

7 0.230 1.24 0.040 0.076 0.004 0.002 0.000 0.000 0.002 0.006 0.137

8 0.174 0.723 0.034 0.050 0.004 0.002 0.001 0.007 0.002 0.004 0.054

9 0.142 0.898 0.031 0.037 0.004 0.002 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.003 0.027

10 0.140 0.829 0.029 0.034 0.004 0.002 0.000 0.001 0.001 0.027 n/a

11 0.118 0.406 0.044 0.032 0.004 0.002 0.002 0.001 0.001 0.006

12 0.103 0.490 0.069 0.023 0.004 0.001 0.007 0.000 0.001 0.014

13 0.092 0.569 0.064 0.027 0.005 0.001 0.001 0.000 0.001 0.005

14 0.085 0.576 0.097 0.031 0.004 0.001 0.001 0.000 0.001 0.004

15 0.101 0.299 0.079 0.025 0.004 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.004

16 0.163 0.206 0.049 0.020 0.004 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.002 0.003

17 0.147 0.161 0.037 0.016 0.004 0.001 0.001 0.000 0.007 0.008

18 0.736 0.130 0.030 0.013 0.003 0.001 0.001 0.000 0.002 0.004

19 0.622 0.111 0.057 0.012 0.003 0.001 0.001 0.000 0.002 0.004

20 0.310 0.102 0.222 0.011 0.003 0.001 0.000 0.000 0.081 0.003

21 0.209 0.088 0.205 0.011 0.003 0.001 0.000 0.000 0.012 0.004

22 0.186 0.076 0.138 0.012 0.003 0.001 0.000 0.000 0.004 0.003

23 0.243 0.063 0.157 0.011 0.003 0.001 0.000 0.000 0.005 0.003

24 0.281 0.048 0.210 0.013 0.003 0.001 0.001 0.000 0.008 0.004

25 0.211 0.042 0.157 0.020 0.003 0.001 0.000 0.000 0.004 0.007

26 0.166 0.095 0.125 0.013 0.003 0.001 0.000 0.000 0.003 0.005

27 0.134 0.397 0.107 0.013 0.003 0.001 0.000 0.000 0.002 0.004

28 0.110 0.200 0.108 0.010 0.003 0.001 0.000 0.001 0.002 0.008

29 0.096 0.155 0.009 0.002 0.001 0.000 0.012 0.002 0.007

30 0.085 0.311 0.008 0.002 0.001 0.000 0.001 0.002 0.024

31 0.080 0.441 0.002 0.000 0.005 0.065

Mean 0.197 0.369 0.115 0.045 0.004 0.003 0.001 0.001 0.005 0.008 n/a -

Max 0.736 1.75 0.441 0.217 0.006 0.036 0.007 0.012 0.081 0.065 n/a -

Min 0.039 0.042 0.029 0.008 0.002 0.001 0.000 0.000 0.001 0.001 0.008 -

Total 6.098 10.320 3.557 1.358 0.113 0.082 0.027 0.039 0.164 0.239 n/a -

Total Dam3530 890 310 120 10 10 2 3 10 20 n/a -

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Figure 4. Grandon Creek hourly discharge, August 17, 2012 to November 10, 2015.

Figure 5. Grandon Creek hourly discharge, August 17, 2012 to November 10, 2015 (logarithmic scale).

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Figure 6. Grandon Creek mean daily water temperature, August 17, 2012 to November 10, 2015.

Table 8. Maximum water temperature (oC) recorded by month, August 17, 2012 to November 10, 2015. Hourly data.

Note: values in italics are from incomplete months. Values in red are maximum temperatures reached annually.

2012 2013 2014 2015

January 5.6 6.2 8.2

February 6.5 5.3 9.5

March 9.7 8.9 10.7

April 10.8 10.9 11.3

May 13.6 14.0 14.1

June 16.9 14.5 16.9

July 16.8 16.9 17.4

August 17.1 18.2 18.4 17.6

September 14.2 16.8 15.8 14.7

October 12.6 11.7 13.7 13.7

November 11.1 9.6 11.5 10.5

December 7.7 7.2 8.8