ANZECC water quality guidelines - FAQs
9. Do the Guidelines apply to ecosystems in all conditions of health?
The guideline trigger values presented in the revised document mainly apply to ecosystems that have been modified to some degree by human impact, but which are generally in moderate to good ecological condition. For situations where stakeholders desire a lower level of protection for highly modified ecosystems, and do not seek to improve the condition, approaches for deriving alternative guideline trigger values are discussed. The recommended objective for essentially pristine or other highly valued ecosystems is no detectable change in the indicators of biological diversity.
