This article aims to provide information for engineers who are not experts in water quality monitoring to improve their understanding of water quality and raise awareness of the different tools that currently exist, including combinations of biological tests, chemical testing, ecological risk assessments and field monitoring. Environmental water quality monitoring in Australia is a multi-million dollar industry, driving a substantial portion of the overall environmental improvement programmes across the whole country. For example, in the wastewater treatment industry alone, decisions that have been made in the past 20 years based on water quality data include: 1. the requirement for nutrient removal or effluent reuse in inland wastewater treatment; 2. the requirement for nitrification in coastal wastewater treatment plants; and 3. stricter controls on trade waste customers to prevent heavy metals and other contaminants entering waterways.
展开▼
