Communities caring for catchments
Module 2 - getting started: the team, monitoring plan and site
Waterwatch Australia Steering Committee
Environment Australia, December 2002
ISBN 0 6425 4856 0
It is most important to prepare a monitoring plan* for your chosen waterway. The plan will describe where, what, why, how and when you will be monitoring, and who will be doing it.
Share the monitoring plan with the people you expect to use your information, and with your Waterwatch group members. If you seek sponsorship (for equipment or other purposes - see the fact sheet called Waterwatch Sponsorship Guidelines), then potential sponsors will be interested in the plan as well. Your monitoring plan should be developed in consultation with your local or regional Waterwatch coordinator as they can provide technical advice, training and support.
It is important to plan carefully because the results from monitoring will tell you and your local community whether action is needed in your catchment. The plan will help you to:
A monitoring plan is built around eleven questions:
These questions are not easy to answer. Start by establishing a planning committee composed of your coordinator, key group members, scientific advisers, supporters and data users. The 'General Guidelines for Monitoring' and the 'Short Monitoring Plan' can be used to help you make the necessary decisions. Write your answers in the spaces provided, or on a copy, and keep the completed plan as a record of your decisions. Your plan will provide a solid foundation if you want to develop it further. An example monitoring plan is shown here.
To be successful in the long-run, the group must be prepared to rethink and revise the monitoring plan and the objectives several times, as more information is found out about the condition of the waterbody. Even more revisions to the plan and objectives can be expected after the team has begun to collect data. For example, your group may find that a method is not producing data of high enough quality, or that data collection is costing too much, or that something else needs to be monitored.
The first step in planning is to state why you want to monitor. Answers may vary (see the Common goals for monitoring box). Your reasons for monitoring will determine how detailed your monitoring plan needs to be. They will also guide the degree of quality control and assessment your monitoring program will need.
Knowing who will use the data or information your team collects is helpful in developing a successful Waterwatch program. Some potential data users are:
While you are planning the Waterwatch monitoring project, you should work with your local coordinator to establish as many links as possible with potential users of your data and ask what data they need. Find out from potential users the circumstances under which they will use your information, and invite their participation in planning to monitor.
For some groups, the data may not have a specific purpose. Simply involving young children and adults alike in collecting data, for example, is an effective way to raise awareness about the importance of healthy waterways.
For other groups, the data may be needed for specific purposes, such as:
You should find out what will make your data suitable for their intended use. This will help determine the kind of data needed, and the level of effort required to collect, analyse and report them. For example, government planning agencies require data that have been gathered using high levels of quality assurance and quality control.
An important step in developing your monitoring plan is generation of a shared understanding of the main components of the aquatic environment and how they interact. This understanding can be written down as a model.
A model is a simplification of the real world and can be illustrated as a set of components (boxes) that interact (arrows). A box represents a stock or quantity and arrows represent a flow between stocks. Being simplifications, models are imperfect, but they are a useful basis for planning. If the results of your data collection do not seem to match the model, you can change it, using the knowledge you have gained from monitoring your waterbody.
Waterwatch group members, scientists and others with different backgrounds will each often have different mental models about what is important in the aquatic environment. If your group does not have a discussion leading to a shared model, there are very likely to be disagreements about what to test and what data are important. Once a model has been agreed, many answers to questions about monitoring become clearer.
The characteristics of the water (physical, chemical, biological) and its bed and bankside environments are generally called measurement parameters. Parameters are descriptions (or values) of individual factors and can be measured by observation or field sampling. Once you have a model and have considered the questions above, you should list the parameters you have agreed to survey or monitor. Describe how they will help you answer your question(s). Indicate on your list the parameters that are central to the monitoring project and which, if any, are collected for background information.
Some parameters can be combined into indicators that reveal information about the waterway or human health conditions. Indicators can:
The parameters you choose to monitor will depend upon the question(s) you are asking as well as the resources and skills available. For example, if your group wants to learn about the general ecological health of the waterway, the main types of water bugs (macro-invertebrates) may tell an interesting story. See Table 2.1 for a list of parameters that can be monitored.
| Characteristic or parameter | Reason for monitoring |
|---|---|
| Habitat condition | Habitat quality affects health of the aquatic ecosystem and human uses downstream. |
| Riparian vegetation | Quality of stream-side vegetation affects ecosystem health, amount of erosion, etc. |
| Bank erosion and stability | The amount of slumping, bank collapse and erosion indicates degree of alteration from its natural state. |
| Riffles, pools and bends | Many riffles, pools and bends in the stream provide habitats for aquatic life. Streams that have been channelled or dredged support less life. |
| Instream cover | The extent of overhangs, snags, logs, and aquatic vegetation tells us about the ability of the stream to support a wide variety of aquatic life. |
| Macro-invertebrates | Abundance and diversity of aquatic macro-invertebrates indicate health of waterway. |
| Algae | Depending on their abundance and type, algae can indicate good environmental health, or over-enrichment of a waterbody with nutrients, or poor condition of the catchment. Some blue-green algae (not strictly algae at all) can pose a risk to human health. |
| Salinity (conductivity) | Dissolved salts in the water (conductivity) affect the survival of aquatic life. |
| Dissolved oxygen | Oxygen in the water is essential for the survival of most organisms. It can also indicate organic contaminants and over-enrichment of lakes. |
| pH | Acidity or alkalinity of the water affects the survival of aquatic life. Indicates contamination and acidification. |
| Phosphates | Amount of phosphate in the water indicates nutrient status, organic enrichment and consequent health of the waterbody. |
| Nitrates | Amount of nitrate in the water indicates nutrient status, organic enrichment and consequent health of the waterbody. |
| Temperature | Rapid temperature changes of the water stress aquatic life. Temperature is also important for the interpretation of dissolved oxygen concentrations and as an indicator of the formation of layers of water in lakes. |
| Turbidity | Cloudiness of the water caused by suspended particles affects the survival of aquatic life. It indicates erosion and habitat destruction. |
| Water flow | Volume and velocity of water flow affect loads of contaminants and the survival of aquatic life. |
When choosing each parameter of the waterway to measure or test, your group should ask:
Some Waterwatch groups measure parameters such as the biological oxygen demand (BOD) or the concentrations of faecal coliform bacteria in the water. Tests of BOD measure the amount of oxygen consumed when organic wastes, such as sewage or dead plant material, decompose in the water. Healthy waters have low BOD. If faecal coliform bacteria can be detected this may mean there are other disease-causing bacteria, viruses and parasites in the water as well. Speak to your local Waterwatch coordinator if your monitoring plan includes these parameters.
If you want to monitor the water quality parameters of groundwater, you will need expert help. While it is relatively simple to measure the depth to the watertable if bores or piezometers have already been installed, measuring groundwater quality is another matter. Ask your local or regional Waterwatch coordinator for guidance before beginning to monitor groundwater. Module 8 (Groundwater Monitoring) of this Technical Manual also provides guidelines.
The quality of the data you collect will depend on the question(s) you are asking and how you intend to use the data. It will also depend on the skill of your group members. At the very least, your data should be accurate enough to identify grossly polluted sites.
For groups with a focus on education and awareness raising, the quality of the data is secondary to the actual process of collecting it. It is not always easy to decide on data quality or to achieve it!
Good quality data are derived from surveys or test samples that are complete, representative and comparable.
Good quality data are derived from analysis that is accurate, precise and sensitive.
You may get some idea about how accurate, precise and sensitive your equipment and methods need to be from looking at data already published for your waterbody.
Data quality is also enhanced by simple quality control checks, such as taking replicate and split samples. In these cases, the two replicates or splits should produce the same results in tests. The closeness of the two results is a measure of your precision.
*More guidance on water quality monitoring can be found in Australian Guidelines for Water Quality Monitoring and Reporting (ANZECC/ARMCANZ 2000).