canwqdata
April 1, 2025 · View on GitHub
An R 📦 to download open water quality data from Environment and Climate Change Canada’s National Long-term Water Quality Monitoring Data.
Features
This package is designed to get Canadian Water Quality Monitoring data into R quickly and easily. You can get data from a single monitoring station, multiple stations, or from an entire basin. Note that current version of this package can only retrieve data from BC, not from other provinces.
Installation
remotes::install_github("bcgov/canwqdata")
Usage
First load the package:
library(canwqdata)
library(tidyverse)
#> Warning: package 'purrr' was built under R version 4.4.3
#> Warning: package 'lubridate' was built under R version 4.4.3
The first thing you will probably want to do is get a list of the available BC sites and associated metadata:
sites <- wq_sites()
sites
#> # A tibble: 50 × 19
#> SITE_NO SITE_NAME SITE_NOM_FR SITE_TYPE SITE_DESC SITE_DESC_FR LATITUDE
#> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <dbl>
#> 1 AK08DC0001 SALMON RIVE… RIVIÈRE SA… RIVER OR… SITE IS … EN AMONT DE… 55.9
#> 2 BC07FB0005 MURRAY RIVE… RIVIÈRE MU… RIVER OR… SITE IS … <NA> 55.6
#> 3 BC07FD0005 PEACE RIVER… RIVIÈRE PE… RIVER OR… AT 203 R… AU PONT DE … 56.1
#> 4 BC08CG0001 ISKUT RIVER… RIVIÈRE IS… RIVER OR… SITE IS … EN AVAL DE … 56.7
#> 5 BC08EE0009 BULKLEY RIV… BULKLEY RI… RIVER OR… SAMPLED … <NA> 54.8
#> 6 BC08EF0001 SKEENA RIVE… RIVIÈRE SK… RIVER OR… AT USK F… AU NIVEAU D… 54.6
#> 7 BC08FC0001 DEAN RIVER … RIVIÈRE DE… RIVER OR… SAMPLED … <NA> 52.5
#> 8 BC08GA0010 CHEAKAMUS R… RIVIÈRE CH… RIVER OR… SAMPLED … PRÉLÈVEMENT… 50.1
#> 9 BC08HA0018 COWICHAN RI… RIVIÈRE CO… RIVER OR… SAMPLED … 1 KM EN AVA… 48.8
#> 10 BC08HB0018 TSOLUM RIVE… RIVIÈRE TS… RIVER OR… RIVER AC… L'ACCÈS À L… 49.8
#> # ℹ 40 more rows
#> # ℹ 12 more variables: LONGITUDE <dbl>, DATUM <chr>, PROV_TERR <chr>,
#> # PROV_TERR_FR <chr>, PEARSEDA <chr>, PEARSEDA_FR <chr>, OCEANDA <chr>,
#> # OCEANDA_FR <chr>, DATA_URL <chr>, DATA_URL_FR <chr>, OPEN_DATA_URL <chr>,
#> # csv_path <chr>
Then get some data from a particular station:
BC08EF0001 is a site in BC called Skeena River at Usk
skeena_river <- wq_site_data("BC08EF0001")
skeena_river
#> # A tibble: 24,901 × 12
#> SITE_NO DATE_TIME_HEURE FLAG_MARQUEUR VALUE_VALEUR SDL_LDE MDL_LDM
#> <chr> <dttm> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl>
#> 1 BC08EF0001 2000-01-10 10:00:00 <NA> 51.6 0.5 NA
#> 2 BC08EF0001 2000-01-10 10:00:00 <NA> 0.059 0.002 NA
#> 3 BC08EF0001 2000-01-10 10:00:00 <NA> 0.0238 0.0002 NA
#> 4 BC08EF0001 2000-01-10 10:00:00 < 0.05 0.05 NA
#> 5 BC08EF0001 2000-01-10 10:00:00 < 0.05 0.05 NA
#> 6 BC08EF0001 2000-01-10 10:00:00 < 0.0001 0.0001 NA
#> 7 BC08EF0001 2000-01-10 10:00:00 <NA> 18.2 0.1 NA
#> 8 BC08EF0001 2000-01-10 10:00:00 <NA> 11.6 0.5 NA
#> 9 BC08EF0001 2000-01-10 10:00:00 <NA> 1.9 0.5 NA
#> 10 BC08EF0001 2000-01-10 10:00:00 <NA> 0.7 0.1 NA
#> # ℹ 24,891 more rows
#> # ℹ 6 more variables: VMV_CODE <chr>, UNIT_UNITE <chr>, VARIABLE <chr>,
#> # VARIABLE_FR <chr>, STATUS_STATUT <chr>, SAMPLE_ID_ECHANTILLON <chr>
We can also get data from more than one station:
wq_site_data(c("BC08NF0001", "BC08NM0160"))
#> # A tibble: 28,532 × 12
#> SITE_NO DATE_TIME_HEURE FLAG_MARQUEUR VALUE_VALEUR SDL_LDE MDL_LDM
#> <chr> <dttm> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl>
#> 1 BC08NF0001 2000-01-04 09:45:00 <NA> 168 0.5 NA
#> 2 BC08NF0001 2000-01-04 09:45:00 <NA> 0.009 0.002 NA
#> 3 BC08NF0001 2000-01-04 09:45:00 <NA> 104 0.01 NA
#> 4 BC08NF0001 2000-01-04 09:45:00 <NA> 0.105 0.0002 NA
#> 5 BC08NF0001 2000-01-04 09:45:00 < 0.002 0.002 NA
#> 6 BC08NF0001 2000-01-04 09:45:00 < 0.05 0.05 NA
#> 7 BC08NF0001 2000-01-04 09:45:00 <NA> 2.66 0.07 NA
#> 8 BC08NF0001 2000-01-04 09:45:00 < 0.05 0.05 NA
#> 9 BC08NF0001 2000-01-04 09:45:00 < 0.005 0.005 NA
#> 10 BC08NF0001 2000-01-04 09:45:00 < 0.0001 0.0001 NA
#> # ℹ 28,522 more rows
#> # ℹ 6 more variables: VMV_CODE <chr>, UNIT_UNITE <chr>, VARIABLE <chr>,
#> # VARIABLE_FR <chr>, STATUS_STATUT <chr>, SAMPLE_ID_ECHANTILLON <chr>
Or an entire basin:
The basins are in the PEARSEDA column of the data.frame returned by
wq_sites():
basins <- sort(unique(sites$PEARSEDA))
basins
#> [1] "COLUMBIA" "FRASER-LOWER MAINLAND" "LOWER MACKENZIE"
#> [4] "OKANAGAN-SIMILKAMEEN" "PACIFIC COASTAL" "PEACE-ATHABASCA"
fraser <- wq_basin_data("FRASER-LOWER MAINLAND")
Do some quick summary stats of the fraser dataset:
``$ \text{r} \text{library}(\text{dplyr})
\text{fraser} %>% \text{group_by}(\text{SITE_NO}) %>% \text{summarise}(\text{first_date} = \text{min}(\text{DATE_TIME_HEURE}), \text{latest_date} = \text{max}(\text{DATE_TIME_HEURE}), \text{n_params} = \text{length}(\text{unique}(\text{VARIABLE})), \text{total_samples} = \text{n}()) #> # \text{A} \text{tibble}: 16 \times 5 #> \text{SITE_NO} \text{first_date} \text{latest_date} \text{n_params} \text{total_samples} #> <\text{chr}> <\text{dttm}> <\text{dttm}> <\text{int}> <\text{int}> #> 1 \text{BC08KA0007} 2000-01-12 07:45:00 2024-10-09 16:02:00 134 25777 #> 2 \text{BC08KE0010} 2000-01-05 12:00:00 2025-01-29 10:25:00 133 32339 #> 3 \text{BC08KH0012} 2006-05-11 13:07:00 2025-01-19 10:30:00 178 30411 #> 4 \text{BC08KH0013} 2014-06-16 12:45:00 2024-03-12 11:30:00 151 15433 #> 5 \text{BC08KH0014} 2014-09-23 14:00:00 2025-01-14 08:00:00 157 15894 #> 6 \text{BC08LC0005} 2011-02-24 09:45:00 2025-01-23 11:00:00 98 20392 #> 7 \text{BC08LE0004} 2000-01-04 10:00:00 2025-02-21 11:34:00 113 32773 #> 8 \text{BC08LF0001} 2000-01-05 12:00:00 2014-12-15 10:20:00 99 19290 #> 9 \text{BC08LF0078} 2015-01-07 11:00:00 2025-01-22 12:25:00 132 14115 #> 10 \text{BC08LG0001} 2003-06-24 10:45:00 2025-01-14 11:50:00 140 14960 #> 11 \text{BC08MB0007} 2004-11-15 12:00:00 2023-12-19 06:00:00 171 27311 #> 12 \text{BC08MC0001} 2000-04-18 16:30:00 2024-10-07 16:20:00 155 28860 #> 13 \text{BC08MF0001} 2000-01-04 14:10:00 2025-01-23 11:42:00 162 26569 #> 14 \text{BC08MH0027} 2000-01-07 12:16:00 2025-01-23 10:09:00 173 47265 #> 15 \text{BC08MH0269} 2004-03-03 14:40:00 2025-01-23 14:05:00 168 35013 #> 16 \text{BC08MH0453} 2008-09-02 16:25:00 2025-01-09 10:45:00 159 18570 $``
We can also look at metadata that helps us understand what is in the different columns.
wq_params() returns a list of water quality parameters (variables),
and related data - units, methods, codes, etc:
params <- wq_params()
glimpse(params)
#> Rows: 2,621
#> Columns: 12
#> $ VMV_CODE <dbl> 100081, 100082, 100083, 100084, 100085, 100086, 10008…
#> $ VARIABLE_CODE <dbl> 371, 387, 392, 410, 454, 461, 468, 517, 517, 575, 589…
#> $ VARIABLE <chr> "ALUMINUM EXTRACTABLE", "BARIUM EXTRACTABLE", "BERYLL…
#> $ VARIABLE_FR <chr> "ALUMINIUM EXTRACTIBLE", "BARYUM EXTRACTIBLE", "BÉRYL…
#> $ VARIABLE_TYPE <chr> "METAL", "METAL", "METAL", "METAL", "METAL", "METAL",…
#> $ VARIABLE_TYPE_FR <chr> "MÉTAUX", "MÉTAUX", "MÉTAUX", "MÉTAUX", "MÉTAUX", "MÉ…
#> $ UNIT_UNITÉ <chr> "MG/L", "MG/L", "MG/L", "MG/L", "MG/L", "MG/L", "MG/L…
#> $ UNIT_NAME <chr> "MILLIGRAM PER LITER", "MILLIGRAM PER LITER", "MILLIG…
#> $ UNITÉ_NOM <chr> "MILLIGRAMME PAR LITRE", "MILLIGRAMME PAR LITRE", "MI…
#> $ METHOD_CODE <chr> "2628", "2628", "2628", "2628", "2628", "2628", "2628…
#> $ METHOD_TITLE <chr> "EXTRACTABLE METALS BY INDUCTIVELY COUPLED ARGON PLAS…
#> $ MÉTHODE_TITRE <chr> "MÉTAUX EXTRACTIBLES PAR ICAP", "MÉTAUX EXTRACTIBLES …
# wq_param_desc shows the column headings (in all other tables) and what they mean
wq_data_desc() %>%
glimpse()
#> Rows: 41
#> Columns: 5
#> $ COL_TITLE_TITRE <chr> "COL_DESCRIPTION", "COL_DESCRIPTION_FR", "COL_TITLE…
#> $ COL_TITLE_FULL <chr> "COLUMN HEADER DESCRIPTION", "COLUMN HEADER DESCRIP…
#> $ COL_TITRE_COMPLET <chr> "DESCRIPTION DE L'EN-T\xcaTE DE COLONNE", "DESCRIPT…
#> $ COL_DESCRIPTION <chr> "COLUMN HEADER DESCRIPTION", "COLUMN HEADER DESCRIP…
#> $ COL_DESCRIPTION_FR <chr> "DESCRIPTION DE L'EN-T\xcaTE DE COLONNE", "DESCRIPT…
Let’s look at Total Nitrogen in the Fraser basin:
fraser_n_total <- fraser %>% filter(VARIABLE == "NITROGEN TOTAL")
Now lets do some plotting - plot Total Nitrogen over time at all the sites, (plot it on a log scale so that they all fit)
library(ggplot2)
ggplot(fraser_n_total, aes(x = DATE_TIME_HEURE, y = VALUE_VALEUR)) +
geom_point(size = 0.4, alpha = 0.4, colour = "purple") +
facet_wrap(~ SITE_NO) +
scale_y_log10()
It’s also possible to download data from an entire BC:
bc_sites <- sites %>%
pull(SITE_NO)
all_bc_data <- wq_site_data(bc_sites)
glimpse(all_bc_data)
#> Rows: 1,271,399
#> Columns: 12
#> $ SITE_NO <chr> "AK08DC0001", "AK08DC0001", "AK08DC0001", "AK08D…
#> $ DATE_TIME_HEURE <dttm> 2000-01-02 14:30:00, 2000-01-02 14:30:00, 2000-…
#> $ FLAG_MARQUEUR <chr> NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, "<", "<", NA, NA, "<", NA, N…
#> $ VALUE_VALEUR <dbl> 47.2000, 0.0340, 0.0004, 37.8000, 0.0370, 0.0020…
#> $ SDL_LDE <dbl> 4e-01, 2e-03, 1e-04, 1e-02, 2e-04, 2e-03, 5e-02,…
#> $ MDL_LDM <dbl> NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, …
#> $ VMV_CODE <chr> "1131", "100216", "100250", "100493", "100217", …
#> $ UNIT_UNITE <chr> "MG/L", "MG/L", "MG/L", "µG/L", "MG/L", "µG/L", …
#> $ VARIABLE <chr> "ALKALINITY TOTAL CACO3", "ALUMINUM TOTAL", "ARS…
#> $ VARIABLE_FR <chr> "ALCALINIT TOTALE CACO3", "ALUMINIUM TOTAL", "AR…
#> $ STATUS_STATUT <chr> "P", "P", "P", "P", "P", "P", "P", "P", "P", "P"…
#> $ SAMPLE_ID_ECHANTILLON <chr> "00PY000078", "00PY000078", "00PY000078", "00PY0…
Project Status
Under development, but ready for use and testing.
Getting Help or Reporting an Issue
To report bugs/issues/feature requests, please file an issue.
How to Contribute
If you would like to contribute to the package, please see our CONTRIBUTING guidelines.
Please note that this project is released with a Contributor Code of Conduct. By participating in this project you agree to abide by its terms.
License
Copyright 2025 Province of British Columbia
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
This repository is maintained by Environmental Reporting BC. Click here for a complete list of our repositories on GitHub.