OBSERVATION:
In Summer 2015, monitoring showed that the bog had the lowest water table on record since Delta began its monitoring in 2005. The water table in a bog is entirely dependent on rainfall, and the summer drought of 2015 produced the lowest water table of the past 10 years. Water level monitoring will continue at 74 stations in 2016.
BACKGROUND:
Bog is a mossy, peat-covered or peat-filled wetland that develops an open terrain where the water drainage is restricted. The water supply for a bog comes almost exclusively from precipitation. Burns bog has a small overall annual water supply (precipitation greater than outflows) estimated at about 200 mm. However, the Bog experiences water deficits in the summer months, particularly in July when it may lose 80 - 90 mm water than it receives.
Water inflow and outflows from the Bog are identified and tracked in a water balance model, to monitor the macro-health of the bog ecosystem. Weather stations along the bog have been installed to regularly record to provide season and annual records specific to the Bog Lands.
CREDITS:
Sarah Howie, Landscape Architect with the Corporation of Delta.
Sarah has a PhD in peatland ecohydrology from Simon Fraser University and has spent the past 10 years managing the hydrological monitoring and restoration of Burns Bog in Delta.
Observations From Members