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Water quality monitoring is a crucial aspect to protecting water resources. Under the Clean Water Act, state, tribal and federal agencies monitor lakes, streams, rivers and other types of water bodies to determine water quality condition.
Online Water Quality Monitoring (OWQM) uses online instruments for real-time measurement of water quality in source waters and/or distribution systems. OWQM can help utilities optimize treatment processes, improve distribution system operations, and detect contamination incidents.
The "Real-time" map tracks short-term changes (over several hours) of water quality. Although the general appearance of the map changes very little from one hour to the next, individual sites may change rapidly in response to major rain events or to reservoir releases.
The National Field Manual for the Collection of Water-Quality Data (NFM) provides documented guidelines and protocols for USGS field personnel who collect water-quality data. The NFM provides detailed, comprehensive, and citable procedures for monitoring the quality of surface water and groundwater. Topics in the NFM include:
Five major purposes are to: characterize waters and identify changes or trends in water quality over time; identify specific existing or emerging water quality problems; gather information to design specific pollution prevention or remediation programs;
Water quality monitoring can be used for many purposes: To identify whether waters are meeting designated uses. All states have established specific criteria (limits on pollutants) identifying what concentrations of chemical pollutants are allowable in their waters.
Water quality data are used to characterize waters, identify trends over time, recognize emerging problems, determine effectiveness of water management programs, help direct remediation efforts where they are most needed and to respond to emergencies such as natural disasters.
Water quality monitoring is a fundamental tool in the management of freshwater resources. This book covers the entire monitoring process providing detailed guidance for implementing a monitoring network with step-by-step descriptions of field and laboratory methods.
What is the WQP? Contributing organizations. Other Water Quality Portals. Explore WQP Sites.
Monitoring water quality. The Global Environment Monitoring System for freshwater (GEMS/Water) provides the world community with sound data on fresh water quality to support scientific assessments and decision-making on the subject.