1
Chapter 1
Purpose and Study Design
1.1 BACKGROUND
Scientific researchers, resource managers, and water quality practitioners
often become involved in the design, implementation, and interpretation of
water quality studies. Such studies take many forms, including characterization of water quality conditions, monitoring to ascertain changes in condition
over time, modeling of past or future changes in water quality in response to
changes in key natural and human-caused drivers of water condition, and estimation of the amounts of pollutants that can trigger biological harm. These
studies focus on a host of water pollutants from a variety of pollution source
types. There are point sources of sulfur (S), nitrogen (N), and mercury (Hg)
from power plants and industrial facilities and diffuse nonpoint sources of N
and pesticides from agricultural development. There are emissions of N from
motor vehicles. Some pollutants are introduced from the land, such as nutrients from an effluent pipe flowing from a wastewater treatment facility. Other
pollutants affect lakes and streams via atmospheric transport of pollutants
from the sources to the location of downwind sensitive soil, vegetative, and
aquatic receptors. This book focuses on the study of pollutants derived from
atmospheric transport and subsequent deposition from the atmosphere to the
ground surface. These pollutants change the chemistry of soils and can affect
the health of plant foliage and roots. Some also move through the soil and
change the chemistry of drainage water, with consequent impacts on fish and
other aquatic life-forms.
Atmospherically deposited substances can acidify soil and drainage waters,
alter the nutrient balance of soils or the chemistry of lakes and streams
( collectively referred to as surface waters), or cause direct toxicity to aquatic
biota. Some contaminants bioaccumulate in food chains, reaching high and
potentially damaging concentrations in top predators, including some fish
and the wildlife that feed on them.
Chapter 1
Purpose and Study Design
1.1 BACKGROUND
Scientific researchers, resource managers, and water quality practitioners
often become involved in the design, implementation, and interpretation of
water quality studies. Such studies take many forms, including characterization of water quality conditions, monitoring to ascertain changes in condition
over time, modeling of past or future changes in water quality in response to
changes in key natural and human-caused drivers of water condition, and estimation of the amounts of pollutants that can trigger biological harm. These
studies focus on a host of water pollutants from a variety of pollution source
types. There are point sources of sulfur (S), nitrogen (N), and mercury (Hg)
from power plants and industrial facilities and diffuse nonpoint sources of N
and pesticides from agricultural development. There are emissions of N from
motor vehicles. Some pollutants are introduced from the land, such as nutrients from an effluent pipe flowing from a wastewater treatment facility. Other
pollutants affect lakes and streams via atmospheric transport of pollutants
from the sources to the location of downwind sensitive soil, vegetative, and
aquatic receptors. This book focuses on the study of pollutants derived from
atmospheric transport and subsequent deposition from the atmosphere to the
ground surface. These pollutants change the chemistry of soils and can affect
the health of plant foliage and roots. Some also move through the soil and
change the chemistry of drainage water, with consequent impacts on fish and
other aquatic life-forms.
Atmospherically deposited substances can acidify soil and drainage waters,
alter the nutrient balance of soils or the chemistry of lakes and streams
( collectively referred to as surface waters), or cause direct toxicity to aquatic
biota. Some contaminants bioaccumulate in food chains, reaching high and
potentially damaging concentrations in top predators, including some fish
and the wildlife that feed on them.