About this Course

This course is designed to allow flexible learning for people who are engaged in the water quality sector and who wish to strengthen their knowledge of the water quality monitoring process. It focusses on how to plan and implement the main elements of a freshwater quality monitoring programme to achieve the information required for water quality management. It starts with considering the objectives of the monitoring programme and provides an overview of the activities necessary to achieve them, including field and laboratory aspects and the alternative monitoring approaches available. It concludes with examples of how monitoring data can be managed and interpreted to provide information for management purposes. This course is complemented by a series of additional specialized courses that provide more detail on monitoring rivers, lakes and groundwaters, and on data management and interpretation, quality assurance and alternative monitoring approaches to traditional water chemistry.