Poplar River Bilateral Monitoring Committee 



Department of State 

 Washington, D.C., United States 



Governor's OflBce 

 State of Montana 

 Helena, Montana, United States 



Ladies and Gentlemen: 



Department of Foreign Affairs 

 and International Trade Canada 

 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 



Saskatchewan Environment 

 R^ina, Saskatchewan, Canada 



Herein is the 24th Armual Report of the Poplar River Bilateral Monitoring Committee. This rq)ort discusses the 

 Committee activities of 2004 and presents the Technical Monitoring Schedules for the year 2005. 



During 2004, the Poplar River Bilateral Monitoring Committee continued to fiilfill the responsibilities assigned by 

 the governments under the Poplar River Cooperative Monitoring Agreement dated September 23, 1980. Through 

 exchange of Diplomatic Notes in March 1987, July 1992, July 1997, and March 2002, the Arrangement was 

 extended. The Monitoring Committee is currently extended to March 2007. 



The enclosed report summarizes current water-quality conditions and compares them to guidelines for specific 

 parameter values that were developed by the International Joint Commission under the 1977 Reference fi-om 

 Canada and the United States. After evaluation of the monitoring information for 2004, the Committee finds that 

 the measured conditions meet the recommended objectives. 



Based on IJC recommendations, the United States was entitled to an on-demand release of 617 dam' (500 acre-feet) 

 fi-om Cookson Reservoir in 2004. A volume of 728 dam' (590 aae-feet) was delivered to the United States during 

 this period. In addition, daily flows in 2004 met or exceeded the minimum flow recommended by the IJC except 

 for January 27 to March 25, when daily flows fell below the recommended minimum due to ice conditions in the 

 charmel. 



During 2004, monitoring continued in accordance with Technical Monitoring Schedules outlined in the 2003 

 Annual Report of the Poplar River Bilateral Monitoring Committee. One significant change that occurred in 2004 

 was the suspension of surface-water-quality sample collection at the East Poplar River boimdary station by 

 Environment Canada. 



Yours sincerely, 



jlL*--l~<.>sJ'^cy{f-'^ . 



rstiiits 



United States Section 



Chuck Bosgoed /^ 



: Bosgoed 

 Member, Canadian Section 



