Chapter 13

Water quality measurement and sampling

TAKE NOTE: MIDTERM EXAMINATION ON FRIDAY

Exam will cover all material through and including January 30, 2015.

Outline:

• Definition and motivation
• Federal and state policies
• Case study of suspended sediment TMDL
• In-situ field measurement
  • temperature
  • pH
  • electrical conductivity
  • eH
  • Dissolved ocygen
  • ion specific electrodes
  • suspended sediment concentration
  • turbidity
• Sample collection considerations
• Quality assurance/quality control
• Common constitutents measured in the lab 

Textbook reading:

• Pages 141-150 and 159-160 of Chapter 9
• Chapter 16

Other reading:

• None.
• Here are some useful references:
  • U.S. Geological Survey. 1972. Recommended methods for water-data aquisition. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. (Chapters iv to vi)
  • Mudroch, A., Azcue, J.M., Mudroch, P. 1997. Manual of Physico-Chemical Analysis of Aquatic Sediments. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL. 287 p.

Related web links:

• USGS Office of Water Quality Field Manual
• USGS National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA)
• Methods for Biological Investigation of Water Quality
• EPA Office of Water- has all kinds of water quality information.
• Complete guide to temperature sensors
  Texas Clean Rivers Program

Video Podcast: Water Quality, Part 1

This 27-minute presentation provides some background related to water quality and how we address it as a society, including a case study related to a project I worked on some time ago with suspended sediment impairment of a river.

Note that there is an extra credit opportunity associated with this video podcast, so if you choose to do that, write up a 1-2 page explanation of your findings and give it to me.

• 640 x 480 (480p) format that balances speed and quality. (330 MB file)
• 1920 x 1280 (HD) format that provides larges size and best quality. (2.9 GB file)

Video Podcast: Water Quality, Part 2

This 38-minute presentation offers the fundamentals of using sensors to measure basic water quality parameters and constituent concentrations as well as how to sample water for later laboratory analysis.

• 640 x 480 (480p) format that balances speed and quality. (451 MB file)
• 1920 x 1280 (HD) format that provides larges size and best quality. (3.7 GB file)

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