Turtle Creek is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 creek in Albert County

Albert County, New Brunswick

Albert County is located in southeastern New Brunswick, Canada on the Chignecto Bay of the Bay of Fundy. Prior to the abolition of county government in 1967, the county seat was Hopewell Cape...

, southeastern New Brunswick

New Brunswick

New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...

. The creek drains a watershed area

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 of 192 square kilometres (74.1 sq mi), and is the primary source of potable water for Moncton, Riverview

Riverview, New Brunswick

Riverview is a Canadian town in Albert County, New Brunswick, Canada.Riverview is located on the south side of the Petitcodiac River, across from the cities of Moncton and Dieppe. Riverview has an area of , and a population density of...

, and Dieppe

Dieppe, New Brunswick

Dieppe is a Canadian city in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.-Geography:Dieppe is located on the Petitcodiac River east of the adjacent city of Moncton...

, thanks to the 150 km² (57.9 sq mi) Turtle Creek reservoir and the Moncton Water Treatment Plant.

Turtle Creek is one of the Petitcodiac River

Petitcodiac River

The Petitcodiac River is a Canadian river in south-eastern New Brunswick. The river runs about through the province's Westmorland, Albert, and Kings counties, draining a watershed area of about . The region around the river features valleys, ridges, and rolling hills, and is home to a diverse...

's main right tributaries, and is therefore part of its 2831 km² (1,093.1 sq mi) drainage basin. Its watershed has been designated as a Provincial Watershed Protected Area, making certain activities off-limits within 75 metres (246.1 ft) of the reservoir.

The reservoir has been the subject of a proposed upgrade, doubling its existing water storage capacity, and is expected to complete in 2012. It has also been the centre of controversies regarding the province's push to begin uranium exploration and gas and oil tests in the area, in spite of the boundaries already set on the surroundings.

Watershed

The river drains a watershed area of 192 km² (74.1 sq mi) south of the town of Riverview. The watershed is largely occupied by the Turtle Creek reservoir, which occupies around 170 km² (65.6 sq mi) of land. Approximately 75% of the land is forested, with only 10% owned for residential purposes. The average temperature, noted in a 2009 study by the Petitcodiac Watershed Alliance, was 13.24 °C (55.8 °F), from May to October. The Turtle Creek reservoir is designated as a Provincial Watershed Protected Area, making certain activities illegal within 75 km (46.6 mi) of the area.

Water quality

Covered under the Watershed Protected Area Designation Order and Clean Water Act, Turtle Creek is rated, among thirty others, as a Class AP watershed. In spite of this, E. coli

Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms . Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some serotypes can cause serious food poisoning in humans, and are occasionally responsible for product recalls...

 and sediment levels were found to be "unusually high", which, according to the Petitcodiac Watershed Alliance, was caused by the ongoing expansion of the river's reservoir. Nitrate, phosphate, and conductivity levels, according to the same report, remained consistent.

The city of Moncton conducts studies on over 1,600 water samples in 60 sites yearly to assure water drinking quality standards are met. According to an annual report published by the city in 2009, coliform bacteria

Coliform bacteria

Coliform bacteria are a commonly used bacterial indicator of sanitary quality of foods and water. They are defined as rod-shaped Gram-negative non-spore forming bacteria which can ferment lactose with the production of acid and gas when incubated at 35-37°C...

, which includes E. coli, was not found in all 1,663 samples. In the same report, 63 of 576 (10.94%) water samples returned a Heterotropic Plate Count—the "general bacteria population" present—of over 10 cfu

Colony-forming unit

In microbiology, colony-forming unit is a measure of viable bacterial or fungal numbers. Unlike direct microscopic counts where all cells, dead and living, are counted, CFU measures viable cells...

/ml, but never exceeded the 500 cfu/ml threshold. Other results recorded an average turbidity

Turbidity

Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of water quality....

 of 0.15 NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Units), and an average of 0.029 mg/l of trihalomethane

Trihalomethane

Trihalomethanes are chemical compounds in which three of the four hydrogen atoms of methane are replaced by halogen atoms. Many trihalomethanes find uses in industry as solvents or refrigerants. THMs are also environmental pollutants, and many are considered carcinogenic...

s (THMs).