ANZECC water quality guidelines - FAQs
5. As well as toxicants and physical and chemical indicators, the new document now incorporates guidelines for sediments as well as detailed information on biological assessment. Are we now expected to measure all of these indicator types?
Biological assessment represents the final end-point in the decision-tree frameworks and is, ultimately, the response that 'matters'. There is the expectation from the broader community now that the ecological 'health' of a water body must be expressed in terms of the biota that live in the systems. The decision on whether to measure physical and chemical stressors, and toxicants in either water or sediment, will depend upon the problem. There is not a priori assumption that every indicator that can be measured, must be measured.
