Collected Water Quality Data Research Articles

Continuous Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Data Collection in Support of a Three-Dimensional Model Calibration and Dissolved Oxygen TMDL Application for the Lower Savannah River Estuary

Continuous Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Data Collection in Support of a Three-Dimensional Model Calibration and Dissolved Oxygen TMDL Application for the Lower Savannah River Estuary

A spatially intensive approach to water quality monitoring in the Rous River catchment, NSW, Australia

The Rous River catchment northern NSW, Australia was used as a case study to evaluate a spatially intensive approach to water quality monitoring, which involved the collection of water quality data from a large number of sample sites over a short period of time. Despite a few potential limitations, the spatially intensive water quality monitoring methodology should allow environmental managers to rapidly and cost-effectively (in the long term) identify point and non-point source impacts on water quality. Three point sources, the Murwillumbah Sewage Treatment Plant, a dairy shed and horse stables had the largest impact on water quality in the Rous River catchment during baseflow conditions. The poorest water quality in the Rous River catchment, due to non-point source inputs, was associated with cane land, which had elevated total nitrogen, total particulate nitrogen, and dissolved organic nitrogen concentrations and temperatures that were significantly greater (Kruskal-Wallis, u>0·05) than other land uses. High oxidized nitrogen concentrations were associated with bananas, most likely due to leaching of N-fertilizers, and oxidized nitrogen concentrations in the pristine areas appear high because oxidized nitrogen concentrations are low in other parts of the catchment (excluding horticulture areas) due to algal uptake and removal of inorganic nutrients. At the time of sampling, low flows were reflected by the dominance of instream processes which had converted most of the inorganic nutrients to organic nutrients. These findings evoked an immediate management response, where Environmental Health Officers were sent into the field to inspect the dairy shed and horse stables. This contrasts with previous Routine water quality studies in the Rous that identified a water quality problem, but not the exact causes, as a such there was no immediate management intervention. Long-term management efforts in the Rous River catchment need to be firstly directed at reducing point source inputs (particularly nitrogen), secondly at reducing non-point source inputs (particularly nitrogen) from cane land and bananas and thirdly at improving the catchment water quality for human health by reducing direct cattle access to streams.

Data from selected U.S. Geological Survey National Stream Water Quality Monitoring Networks

A nationally consistent and well‐documented collection of water quality and quantity data compiled during the past 30 years for streams and rivers in the United States is now available on CD‐ROM and accessible over the World Wide Web. The data include measurements from two U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) national networks for 122 physical, chemical, and biological properties of water collected at 680 monitoring stations from 1962 to 1995, quality assurance information that describes the sample collection agencies, laboratories, analytical methods, and estimates of laboratory measurement error (bias and variance), and information on selected cultural and natural characteristics of the station watersheds. The data are easily accessed via user‐supplied software including Web browser, spreadsheet, and word processor, or may be queried and printed according to user‐specified criteria using the supplied retrieval software on CD‐ROM. The water quality data serve a variety of scientific uses including research and educational applications related to trend detection, flux estimation, investigations of the effects of the natural environment and cultural sources on water quality, and the development of statistical methods for designing efficient monitoring networks and interpreting water resources data.

Basic approaches in design of water quality monitoring networks

The general trend in water quality management has been to gather and use information on water quality variables for purposes of planning, design, and operation of water resources systems and wastewater treatment. However, the growing concern for environmental quality has given rise to a new trend in respect of the impact of water quality variables on human health and life conditions. Thus, there is the need for better understanding of how water quality processes evolve both in time and space under natural and man-made conditions. This accentuates the need for more efficient practices of monitoring to satisfy the objectives of water quality management plans. Upon this need, the adequacy of collected water quality data and the performance of existing monitoring networks have been seriously evaluated within the last decade. Problems observed in available data and shortcomings of current networks have led researchers to focus more critically on design procedures used. This paper examines the state-of-the-art in design of water quality monitoring networks. Available design procedures are discussed with respect to three basic features of a network: selection of sampling sites, sampling frequencies, and variables to be sampled. In conclusion, recommendations are presented for improvement of current approaches to the design problem.

Water development for phosphate mining in a karst setting in Florida—a complex environmental problem

The State of Florida, U.S.A., passed legislation in the early 1970s and developed regulations applied to large withdrawals of groundwater. These regulations require strict adherence to defining the impact on surface water, shallow Surficial Aquifers, and the deeper aquifers within the Floridan Aquifer System. These regulations require the development of a Regional Impact Statement and a Consumptive Use Permit. To meet these requirements it is necessary to perform surface- and groundwater studies, extensive pumping tests and the collection of detailed monitoring and water quality data. These permits fall under the jurisdiction of the Florida Department of Environmental Regulations and are administrated under Regional Water Management districts, such as the Southwest Florida Management District. These regional district offices have a regulatory hearing board, hold public hearings that are properly advertized, and have support staffs of geologists, engineers, chemists, and biologists.

The environmental audit. I. Concepts

Extensive criticism of water quality monitoring programs has developed as costs are compared with the benefits produced by monitoring efforts. Collecting water quality data while developing understanding of the functional character of the environment will improve water quality monitoring data utility in environmental management. The “environmental audit” characterizes the attributes of the natural environment (that is, attribute type, intensity, and variability), providing a theoretical as well as practical foundation for data interpretation. In the view proposed here, traditional monitoring means the very narrow activity of collecting samples and perhaps analyzing them and storing the analyses. In the environmental audit, these activities are a mechanism to systematically improve environmental monitoring and assessment by improving the design and implementation of environmental programs. Major reasons why existing programs fail to meet the needs of legislators, regulators, and conservationists are identified.

Topic 1: Data acquisition and evaluation of groundwater pollution by nitrates, pesticides, and disease-producing bacteria

The potential of certain agricultural activities for groundwater pollution has long been recognized. Intensification of agriculture, increases in land area devoted to arable crops, intensification of animal husbandry, and a move away from arable rotations toward monoculture have affected groundwater nitrate content and necessitate continued close monitoring of groundwater. Investigative techniques vary, and have included systematic collection of water quality data from the saturated zone of aquifers, determining solute concentrations in pore waters present in unsaturated zones overlying unconfined aquifers, and deep profiling of consolidated aquifers. Pore water has been analyzed for both chemical components and thermonuclear tritium. Studies continue throughout the world. The results of several of these from various countries are included in the Symposium.

Water Quality Sampling Programs in Rivers

A central decision in the collection of water quality data from a river is the choice of the locations and frequencies of sampling. This paper proposes a method for the selection of these design variables, for given water quality constituents, based on the use of a stochastic model of the river. The design method is demonstrated for the coupled constituents of BOD and DO in the Shenango-Beaver River, Pennsylvania. Cost-effective sampling designs are identified for two principal objectives: (1) Detection of violations of in-stream water quality standards; and (2) assessment of the present state of water quality in the river. The results indicate that data collection efforts for the detection of in-stream violations should emphasize intensive sampling at a few critical locations.

National Water Quality Goals and Irrigated Agriculture

The 1972 Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments (P.L. 92-500) have an important but often overlooked impact on the irrigated agricultural community of the western United States. The specific goals of P.L. 92-500 are unrealistic because of the lack of both knowledge and funds to develop effective control technologies in regard to irrigation return flows. Surface and subsurface return flows should be differentiated for purposes of study, treatment, and management. Treatment and salt disposal require expensive and complicated technologies. Some states have been granted the authority to oversee the issuance of National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permits; irrigation entities in both California and Washington have formed large return flow groups to facilitate the collection of water quality data and to assist the farmer in developing the best practical control technology. The agricultural user also needs information on the relationship between crop yield and irrigation water quality; the ASCE Task Committee was formed to study the salinity hazards faced by the irrigator.

Environmental Data Management

A holistic viewpoint is taken of basic data needs to support environmental forecasting, modeling, and decision making. A protocol is suggested which places forecast errors in a key role. Data bases should be reviewed and their error properties analyzed with respect to forecasting precision. Data programs should be oriented to minimizing forecast variance within cost and overall program needs constraints. Recognized big issues concern the: (1)Need for a rational data assessment protocol; (2)difficulty of generalizing requirements; (3)fact that simulation models have outdistanced the availability of data to support them; (4)observation that agency programs apparently place too much stress on analysis and not enough on data gathering activities; and (5)chronic problem that water quantity and quality data collection needs to be coordinated.

Spatial Variation of River Water Quality: A Survey of the River Exe

River water quality is of considerable relevance to the geographer and a reconnaissance survey of the spatial variation of the specific conductance of stream water within the basin of the River Exe was undertaken by the authors. The spatial pattern defined by the more than 500 samples collected was mapped and an attempt has been made to interpret the results. Much of the variation was closely related to lithology, but land use was also found to exert a significant influence on levels of conductivity. The data collected have also been used to obtain estimates of the magnitude and spatial pattern of annual solute loads and of chemical denudation rates. DURING the past 25 years, increasing attention has been focused upon spatial and temporal variations in the magnitude of streamflow or river discharge in Great Britain. Regional water resource studies have assessed the volumes of run-off available in particular areas, suggesting ways in which water can be stored and regulated.1 Furthermore, the problems of floods and droughts have stimulated the development of techniques for evaluating and predicting floods and low flows.2 Data on the flow of rivers in the British Isles are now available in the Surface Water Yearbook3 and additional information is being collected from several research basins.4 Geographers have been aware of the opportunities and relevance of this field of study and they have themselves made contributions.5 Much less information is available on the quality, as distinct from the quantity of streamflow. Detailed work in this sphere has previously been the province of the chemist and public health engineer and has been primarily concerned with the potability of sources of water supply and the nature and extent of serious pollution and the various possibilities available for the control or alleviation of this problem.6 With the increasing concern over the optimum use and management of water supplies in this country, more interest is being directed towards collection and interpretation of water quality data. River temperatures have already attracted the investigations of several workers,7 and studies of nitrate levels8 and solute transport by local streams have also been made.9 The quality of river water is not without relevance to the geographer, as Douglaso1 has recently emphasized. Water quality constitutes a valuable environmental indicator, reflecting the interaction of the quality of the incident precipitation with the character of the catchment area, the processes operating in the drainage basin, and the influence of man. It is in this context that Perel'manll has promoted the concept of geochemical environments or landscapes whereby geochemical indicators can be used for landscape classification or regionalization. In turn, water quality is an important control on human activity and resource utilization.12 Minimum quality standards exist for the various uses of water13 and severe negative feedbacks can occur where man-induced deterioration in water quality inhibits continued or more intensive use of water I55 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.111 on Sun, 07 Aug 2016 05:15:25 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms D.E.WALLING AND B.W.WEBB resources. Because of the significance to the operation of geomorphological processes, physical geographers have already made considerable progress towards understanding the solution chemistry and water quality of limestone areas.14 However, there is considerable scope for studies in non-limestone areas. For example, spectral analysis has been shown to be a powerful tool when studying temporal variations in solute concentrations,15 and the evaluation and interpretation of spatial variations in river water quality would seem to be another worthwhile theme for investigation. There are many indices of river water quality including, colour, odour, temperature, turbidity, solute content and other chemical and biological parameters, and these will exhibit spatial and temporal variations to a greater or lesser extent. Solute content and the concentration of individual ions provide a sensitive environmental indicator. For example, Miller16 has shown how solute concentrations can vary according to rock type; classic studies in the Hubbard Brook experimental catchment in New Hampshire, U.S.A.17 have stressed the interdependence of concentrations of individual ions and the nutrient cycle; and Skakalskiyl8 has demonstrated how solute concentrations can be related to the magnitude and origins of different run-off components. In addition, many reports exist of the influence of man on these parameters.19 Temporal variations in solute concentrations have been well documented by workers such as Hendrickson and Krieger20 and Hall,21 and spatial contrasts have been discussed on a world scale by Gibbs,22 on a continental scale by Rainwater,23 at the regional level by Douglas,24 and within a drainage basin by Anderson and George.25

A Quality Assurance Program for Water Quality Monitoring Studies

Abstract Requirements for the collection and interpretation of water quality data have increased in recent years. The development of a quality assurance program is a necessity to insure the validity of the data. Such a program is described for application in environmental impact assessments.

Optimizing Sampling Intervals in Tidal Estuaries

Automatic collection of water quality and other hydrologic data in tidal estuaries can easily exceed the capacity of available data processing and interpreting functions and may, in fact, provide more data than are needed for any given situation. Spectral analyses and other statistical studies of dissolved oxygen and conductivity data from the Potomac River and Raritan Bay were made. These studies revealed that for those areas where data are to be evaluated monthly, the optimum sampling interval is 2 hr. Routinely collected data from inland streams confirm the intuitive reasoning for estuaries that as a dominant source of pollution is approached, more frequent sampling is necessary. In any case, optimum sampling, statistical, and evaluation efforts must be adapted to both the environment and the intended use of the data.

Continuous Recording of Water Quality in the Delaware Estuary

This paper discusses a highly instrumented program in the Delaware estuary to study the water quality of the Delaware River. Continuous recording, supplemented with periodic hand sampling, offers a new approach to collecting water quality data. The volume of data that has been collected over the past 10 years can now be collected in a few weeks with continuous recorders, although a determination of the extremes of seasonal variations may require a few more years. With data of higher statistical correlation, more accurate predictions of the immediate river quality, conditions, and trends are possible.