Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
State Water Quality Standards Programs
Each state has a program to set standards for the protection of each body of
water within its boundaries. Standards are developed for bodies of water that
• Depend on the water's designated use
• Are based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) national
water quality criteria and other research into the effects of specific
pollutants on different types of aquatic life and on human health
• May include limits based on the biological diversity of the body of
water (the presence of food and prey species)
State water quality standards set limits on pollutants and establish water
quality levels that must be maintained for each type of water body, based on
its designated use. Resources for this type of information include
• USEPA Water Quality Criteria Program
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Habitat Suitability Index models (for
specific species of local interest)
Individual monitoring test results can be plotted against these standards to
provide a focused, relevant, required assessment of water quality.
Designing a Water Quality Monitoring Program
The first step in designing a water quality monitoring program is to deter-
mine the purpose for the monitoring. This aids in selection of parameters to
monitor. This decision should be based on such factors as
• Types of water quality problems and pollution sources that will
likely be encountered (see
Table 10.3
)
• Cost of available monitoring equipment
• Precision and accuracy of available monitoring equipment
• Capabilities of the monitors
We discuss the parameters most commonly monitored by drinking water
practitioners in streams (i.e., we assume, for illustration and discussion
purposes, that our water source is a surface water stream) in detail in this
chapter. These parameters include dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxy-
gen demand (BOD), temperature, hardness, pH, t u r b i d it y, orthophosphates,
nitrates, total solids, c o n du c t i v it y, total alkalinity, fecal bacteria, apparent
color, and odor (see
Figure 10.1
).
