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Variations between Continuous and Spot‐Sampling Techniques in Monitoring a Change in River‐Water Quality
Author(s) -
Hazelton C.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-6593.1998.tb00161.x
Subject(s) - water quality , effluent , sampling (signal processing) , environmental science , sewage , hydrology (agriculture) , quality (philosophy) , water resource management , environmental engineering , computer science , engineering , telecommunications , ecology , philosophy , geotechnical engineering , epistemology , biology , detector
Following significant expenditure by Thames Water Utilities Limited at Crawley and Horley sewage‐treatment works, the quality of the final effluents being discharged to the River Mole improved considerably. The automatic quality‐monitoring station operated by the former National Rivers Authority downstream from both discharges showed a distinct improvement in water quality which was not recorded to the same degree by the NRA's formal sampling programme. The quality of data provided by the formal sampling programme can be misleading, and such data should be used cautiously in water‐quality assessment and modelling. The reasons why spot‐sample data were unreliable were investigated, and the possibility and benefits of developing a systematically biased continuous monitoring strategy to produce water‐quality data under comparative environmental conditions are explored.