Developing a Water Quality Assessment Framework for Southwest Florida Tidal Creeks

AbstractThe three contiguous National Estuary Programs of southwest Florida, along with partners from six coastal counties, have developed a tidal creek water quality assessment framework to help prioritize natural resource investigations across a large population of tidal creeks between Tampa Bay and Estero Bay, Florida. The assessment framework is based on outcomes of a multidisciplinary study and includes a nutrient based report card that characterizes nutrient conditions relative to regional numeric nutrient criteria developed for contributing freshwater streams, identification of site-specific water quality indicators of tidal creek condition, and an online open science dashboard to display the assessment framework and provide access to all information relevant to its implementation. Application of the assessment framework has provided an actionable list of southwest Florida tidal creeks prioritized for further research and potential management action along with a host of site-specific indicator results that provide insights into drivers of tidal creek condition. The open science dashboard provides a platform for dissemination of this information in a readily accessible and reproducible format and a means to incorporate new data and indicators as they become available. Local resource managers are in need of tools to help prioritize natural resource investigations and management actions that achieve the greatest resource benefit with limited available resources. This assessment framework informs these efforts and builds capacity for future research to identify and refine management tools for these creeks where management resources, data, and sentinel biological response endpoints are limited.

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Integrating Stressor and Response Monitoring into a Resource-Based Water-Quality Assessment Framework

Environmental Management ◽

10.1007/s002679900165 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 23 (1) ◽

pp. 15-30 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Dirk J. Roux

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Quality Assessment ◽

Water Quality Assessment ◽

Response Monitoring ◽

Assessment Framework

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Assessment Framework for Natural Groundwater Contamination in Arid Regions: Development of Indices and Wells Ranking System Using Fuzzy VIKOR Method

Water ◽

10.3390/w12020423 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 423 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Husnain Haider ◽

Abdul Razzaq Ghumman ◽

Ibrahim Saleh Al-Salamah ◽

Hussein Thabit

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Quality Assessment ◽

Arid Regions ◽

Water Quality Assessment ◽

Decision Makers ◽

Raw Water ◽

Assessment Framework ◽

Vikor Method ◽

Physical Chemical ◽

Well Field

Limited groundwater resources in arid regions have been found polluted for drinking purpose due to the presence of natural minerals and radioactive substances, in the sub-soils, higher than the drinking water quality standards. Municipalities in these regions are spending extensive resources to transport (from well fields) and treat this raw water to provide safe water to the community. Regular monitoring of various physical, chemical, and radioactive water quality parameters (WQPs) in raw water generates large datasets, which makes it difficult to come up with convenient findings for both the decision-makers and general public. A hierarchical water quality assessment framework develops three sub-indices, an overall water quality index, and a system for ranking of groundwater wells. Fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (fuzzy-AHP) establishes the importance weights of different WQPs and the sub-indices based on their impacts on human health, treatment processes, distribution system infrastructure, and irrigation applications. Fuzzy VIekriterijumsko KOmpromisno Rangiranje (fuzzy-VIKOR) method aggregates the WQPs’ performance for each well and ranks all the wells in a well field based on their overall pollution levels, i.e., remoteness from the applicable standards. For evaluating the pragmatism of the framework, data of 11 WQPs were obtained for 39 wells operating in three different well fields located along the boundaries and the central part of Buraydah, Qassim, Saudi Arabia. Spatial water quality maps showing physical, chemical, radioactive, and overall water quality assessment results revealed that the oldest well field located in the middle of the city outperforms the other two more recently developed well fields with lesser anthropogenic activities in their catchments. These findings testify that the primary source of contamination in deep aquifers is the natural sub-soil condition. The water quality indices will be useful to demonstrate the current situation of groundwater quality in Qassim Region and will facilitate the decision-makers for defining the intended uses of raw water sources (i.e., drinking, unrestricted irrigation, and restricted irrigation) and rehabilitation and renewal planning of the groundwater wells. The framework is applicable in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Gulf Region, and elsewhere for groundwater quality assessment with desired modifications.

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Methodical Assessment of River Periyar to Encounter Water Parameter Variation

International Journal of Engineering & Technology ◽

10.14419/ijet.v7i3.12.17632 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 7 (3.12) ◽

pp. 1056

Author(s):

J V MurugaLal Jeyan ◽

Akhila Rupesh

Keyword(s):

Water Pollution ◽

Water Quality ◽

Quality Assessment ◽

Natural Resource ◽

Industrial Effluents ◽

Water Quality Assessment ◽

Parameter Variation ◽

Know How ◽

Sampling Points

Water resource, being the most precious natural resource is getting depleted in the recent times in a drastic manner as ever before. The river water bodies, due to the discharge of industrial effluents and other wastes, is becoming more and more polluted, severely degrading its quality of usage. Recent studies have shown the serious need of Water quality assessment to know how far the resource is being polluted. The paper is on a survey work carried across the river Periyar at different sampling points to determine and analyzethe water pollution trends.

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