The documents titled 'Guidelines for water quality management' and 'Guidelines for water quality monitoring' are published by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in 2008, under the guidance of the Water Quality Assessment Authority formed under the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).
The first document 'Guidelines for water quality management' attempts to summarise legal and policy matters related to water quality management, the step wise activities required for formulation of action plan to restore water quality, the options that maybe considered for action plan, the formats for preparing inventory of polluting activities and various water conservation measures. The document is divided into the following chapters:
- Introduction
- Step-I Setting Water Quality Goal
- Step-II Water Quality Monitoring
- Step-III Identification of Nature and Magnitude of Pollution
- Step-IV Source Inventory
- Step - V Water Quantity information
- Step -VI Selection of Technology
- Step -VII Financing Waste Management
- Step – VIII Maintenance of sewage treatment plants
- Step – IX Pollution from industrial sources
- Step – X Pollution from non-point sources
- Step – XI Some other Important Options for Water Quality Management
The 'Guidelines for water quality monitoring' recognizes the necessity for a common protocol for the various agencies monitoring water quality. It discusses the considerations to design a water quality monitoring network, procedures for sampling, laboratory analysis, data storage and analysis, presentation, interpretation, reporting and quality assurance. The document is divided into the following chapters:
- Introduction
- Water quality
- What is monitoring?
- Monitoring strategy
- Step 1: Setting water quality monitoring objectives
- Step-2:Assessment of resources availability
- Step-3:Reconnaissance survey
- Step-4:Network design
- Step-5:Sampling
- Step-6:Laboratory work
- Step-7:Data management
- Step-8:Quality assurance guidelines on management aspects
These documents can be downloaded below:
/articles/guidelines-water-quality-management-and-monitoring-central-pollution-control-board-2008