3. Environmental water quality (EWQ)

Environmental water quality is an integrated approach that links the chemical, physical and radiological characteristics of a water resource to the responses of the in-stream assemblage structure, function and processes [12, 13]. The EWQ combines water physico-chemistry, biomonitoring and ecotoxicology. The conventional approach to managing water quality is physico-chemistry, which involves measuring and analysing physical and chemical variables to indicate water quality without taking into account their effects on biological organisms. Biomonitoring is the systematic deployment of resident biota to provide information on aquatic ecosystem health with limited capacity for a cause-effect relationship, while ecotoxicology is the experimental evaluation of the effects of specific toxicants on aquatic biota, adding the potential for causal linkages.
