.Which is the most sophisticated and cost effective instrument to monitor water quality parameters?
Hi Nirankar ,
Thank you that you asked me such a question ,
As I did my Quality research on river water in Germany 1978 , I used an instrument to show temperature and O2- Saturation , I forgot its Name and from which factory !
but which parameters you need to measure ????
temperature , O2-saturation , Salts , H2S , ..Polluting salts ..................?????
When you Know which parameter you need to measure , then you look for its instrument !
I will be glad to look for it with you !
Regards
Said
A more specific water quality question would probably support a more specific answer.
I am not trying to be smart, but your well trained and experienced mind and eye may be as good as any single instrument. The well trained part includes not only technical training and background, but how to find information on geology, soils, watershed conditions and activities or land uses such as in reading aerial photos. I am attaching an article for you on drinking water from forests and grasslands. It tells about many aspects and considerations of water quality that may give you some ideas. There are so many aspects of water quality, one instrument cannot assess and address all aspects. If you can get training or learn aquatic insects and other biological indicators such as algae, they are typically known to be tolerant or intolerant to types of pollutants and ecological balance used as general indicators, but would not assess if there were organisms like gaurdia or chrytosporidium, fecal coliform bacteria, etc. But without running sometimes excessive field and laboratory test at some substantial expense, you are limited to what can be done with an inexpensive or single purpose instrument even with the ability to measure several parameters. But cost effectiveness is also somewhat related to the circumstance, and if you have a community or city dependent on your assessment, or illness is spreading or lives are being lost, expense may not such a high concern.
Sometimes you must become like an investigator if water quality issues become likely, knowing where to find information, looking for indicators, seeking advice, testing, etc. Sometimes for urgency, you may just need to test everything and find willing partners to help support, volunteer, bear or forgive the cost.
It is not unusual for a researcher to specialize in some specific aspect or area of water quality. There are probably none or very few who know it all, so best to go into an general area of interest, do quality work and expand as needed as your career, expertise and funding grows.
Dear Dr Singh
I think that single instrument/ equipment can not measure all the quality parameters. Moreover in field one can measure DO, Temp, EC, TDS etc only. For further analysis one has to collect sample for Basic, (Cation & Anion); Trace Metals, Pesticides, biological etc in different containers under different preservation condition and to be analysed within the time frame specified by Standard Methods (APHA) using the specific instruments / technique.
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