Water Pollution Monitoring

Who monitors water pollution?

• Environment Agency– may give consent to

discharge– under Environmental

Protection Act (1990)

• OFWAT ( Office of Water Services)– regulates the water

industry– provides a consumer

complaints service,– under the water

quality standards.

What needs to be monitored?

• Physical properties – Water temperature– Water depth– Turbidity (TSS)

• Useful additional information that helps to provide predictions of the impact of a pollution incident

What needs to be monitored?

• Chemical properties– Oxygen content– Nitrates– Phosphates– Ammonium– pH– Salinity– Heavy metals– Biological oxygen demand

• With chemical properties we can directly identify the pollutant by source and take the appropriate actions

• Needs training and is time consuming

What needs to be monitored?

• Biological properties– Biological Index

• uses indicator species• Different species will appear/disappear at

known levels of contamination

– Pros• Cheap to undertake• Gives instant results• No need to identify individual pollutants

–  Cons• Problems of identification• Could be another cause for an organism’s

absence

Indicator Species

• Species of plants or animals that, by their presence or absence indicate how polluted the environment is

• Sulphur dioxide = lichens• Water quality = invertebrates• May indicate:

– pH– Oxygen levels– Pollutant levels

Clean water

Low pollution level

High pollution level

Water louse Bloodworm

Very High pollution level

Rat-tailed maggot Sludgeworm