Environmental

Many human activities and their by-products have the potential to pollute water. Large and small industrial enterprises, the water industry, the urban infrastructure, agriculture, horticulture, transport, discharges from abandoned mines, and deliberate or accidental pollution incidents all affect water quality.

Environmental

Pollution may arise as point sources, such as discharges through pipes, or may be more diffuse, such as from run off from streets and buildings, or agricultural nutrients lost from fields.

The water industry has over 350,000km of sewers, 6,000 sewage treatment works discharges and 25,000 intermittant discharges. As a result the water industry has the potential to have a great impact on the environment.

Faced with the challenges of increasing populations, more stringent government standards and more complex groundwater remediation solutions, many municipalities and industries alike are faced with the growing challenge of properly treating their contaminated wells, runoff and other groundwater supplies.

Parameters
There is a standard suite of parameters, commonly measured by the EA and environmental professionals. These include: temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, redox (ORP), ammonia, suspended solids, conductivity and sometimes colour.