National Water Quality Management Strategy: Australian Guidelines for Water Quality Monitoring and Reporting
Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council
Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand - October 2000
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- Preamble, Contents, Executive Summary, Chapters 1 and 2 (PDF - 520 KB) | (RTF - 2.2 MB)
- Chapter 3 (PDF - 510 KB) | (RTF - 1.3 MB)
- Chapters 4 and 5 (PDF - 400 KB) | (RTF - 3.2 MB)
- Chapters 6 and 7 (PDF - 705 KB) | (RTF - 2.5 MB)
- Appendices (PDF - 905 KB) | (RTF - 3.3 MB)
- Worked examples (PDF - 280 KB) | (RTF - 5.3 MB)
- References (PDF - 127 KB) | (RTF - 140 KB)
- Index (PDF - 120 KB) | (RTF - 46 KB)
About the document
The National Water Quality Management Strategy (NWQMS) is a nationally agreed set of policies, processes and 21 guidelines documents (Appendix 1). It is being developed jointly by the Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand (ARMCANZ) and the Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC). The NWQMS has also been endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), which represents all three levels of government in Australia.
This document, the Australian Guidelines for Water Quality Monitoring and Reporting, is an integral element of the NWQMS. It provides a comprehensive framework and guidance for the monitoring and reporting of fresh and marine waters and groundwater. The document does not discuss drinking water, waste water and effluents; they are covered by separate NWQMS guidelines.
Worldwide, the quality of surface and groundwater, estuarine and marine waters tends to decline because of human activities. Concerted management and action by government, community and industry can reduce or reverse the decline in water quality, and that is the basis of Australia's NWQMS. Water quality must be measured, i.e. monitored, regularly and the results analysed, interpreted, reported and acted upon to achieve effective concerted management.
The Australian Guidelines for Water Quality Monitoring and Reporting provides a comprehensive framework and guidance for monitoring and reporting, but it should be used in conjunction with other NWQMS technical papers, especially the Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality, paper no.4 in the NWQMS series. Standard reference works and documented in-house procedures should also be consulted and followed, subject to appropriate quality assurance and quality control criteria, and any monitoring programs resulting from the use of this guidelines document should be consistent with relevant local and state regulations and by-laws.
The Australian Guidelines for Water Quality Monitoring and Reporting describes the design, application, analysis and reporting of monitoring programs. Each chapter presents a flowchart and checklist of actions necessary for effective monitoring and reporting, as well as information about the various stages of the operation. Extra details are given in appendices and the whole text contributes to the index at the end of the volume. A shorter version, the Australian Guidelines for Water Quality Monitoring and Reporting — Summary, accompanies the main document. It comprises flowcharts and a summary of the text of the main document, but it does not include checklists: instead, there the text is arranged as a series of expanded checklists. Both versions contain a glossary of major terms and an index.
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