Poplar River Bilateral Monitoring Committee 



Department of State 

 Washington, D.C., United States 



Governor's Office 

 State of Montana 

 Helena, Montana, United States 



Ladies and Gentlemen: 



Department of Foreign Affairs 

 and International Trade Canada 

 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 



Saskatchewan Environment and 

 Resource Management 

 Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada 



Herein is the 19"" Annual Report of the Poplar River Bilateral Monitoring Committee. This report 

 discusses the Committee activities of 1999 and presents the proposed schedule for the year 2000. 



During 1999, the Poplar River Bilateral Monitoring Committee continued to fulfil 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, and July 1997, the 

 Arrangement was extended. The current extension expires in March 2002. 



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 from Canada and the United States. After evaluation of the monitoring information for 1999, 

 the Committee finds that the measured conditions meet the recommended objectives. The Committee notes 

 that the flow-weighted concentration of total dissolved solids in streamflow in the East Poplar River at the 

 International Boundary remains close to the long-term objective of 1 ,000 milligrams per litre, but did not 

 exceed the objective in 1 999. The Committee after discussing and reviewing the Water-Quality Objectives 

 agreed to suspend monitoring and reporting of several parameters since they were no longer considered 

 of concern. The parameters affected are: dissolved aluminum, un-ionized ammonia, total and dissolved 

 chromium, mercury in fish, and fecal and total coliform. 



Based on IJC recommendations, the United States was entitled to an On-Demand release of 370 dam^ (300 

 acre-feet) from Cookson Reservoir in 1 999. A volume of 1 , 200 dam^ (989 acre-feet) was delivered to the 

 United States during this period. In addition, except for a few days in July and August, daily flows in 

 1999 met or exceeded the minimum flow recommended by the IJC. 



During 1999, monitoring continued in accordance with Technical Monitoring Schedules outlined in the 

 1992 Annual Report of the Poplar River Bilateral Monitoring Committee. 



Yours sincerely, 



Robert Davis 



Chairman, United States Section 



J^icStults 



Member, United States Section 



Richard Kellow 



Chairman, Canadian Section 



Chuck Bosgoed 



Member, Canadian Section 



