Until 2017, the contractor constructing the dam manually performed water quality regulatory monitoring and reporting. However, delays associated with the manual effort proved unsatisfactory, so BC Hydro commissioned Ecofish to devise an automated solution for comparison. Ecofish spent the next several months developing an automated, remote water quality monitoring solution to work in parallel with the manual system in place. The Ecofish solution proved worthy, and before the year was out, Ecofish took over the compliance monitoring and reporting duties.

Dam construction required instream work (i.e., infilling of the Peace River to construct the dam), which would result in increased total suspended solids (TSS) in the Peace River that if unmitigated, could have negative effects on fish and fish habitat. To manage these potential effects and meet regulatory requirements, the project would require monitoring and managing sediment inputs caused by construction activities in real-time using site-specific TSS-based water quality objectives developed by EcoFish prior to the start of construction using a dose-response model.