Water quality testing is an important part of environmental monitoring. When water quality is poor, it affects not only aquatic life but the surrounding ecosystem as well.

These sections detail all of the parameters that affect the quality of water in the environment. These properties can be physical, chemical or biological factors. Physical properties of water quality include temperature and turbidity. Chemical characteristics involve parameters such as pH and dissolved oxygen. Biological indicators of water quality include algae and phytoplankton. These parameters are relevant not only to surface water studies of the ocean, lakes and rivers, but to groundwater and industrial processes as well.

Water quality monitoring can help researchers predict and learn from natural processes in the environment and determine human impacts on an ecosystem. These measurement efforts can also assist in restoration projects or ensure environmental standards are being met.

The following chapters will discuss each water quality parameter specifically. Each page defines what the parameter is, where it comes from and why it is important to measure.

Water Quality Chapters

• Algae, Phytoplankton and Chlorophyll
• CDOM
• Conductivity, Salinity and Total Dissolved Solids
• Dissolved Oxygen
• Nutrients: Phosphorus and Nitrogen as Nitrate and Ammonia
• pH
• Solar Radiation & Photosynthetically Active Radiation
• Turbidity, Total Suspended Solids and Clarity
• Water Temperature

Measurement methods and technology can be found in the Measurements section.