Water Quality
Description
Including chemical, biological, radiological, and micro-plastic contamination; temperature; turbidity; pH (acidity/alkalinity); biochemical oxygen demand; and colour, taste, odour, and appearance.
Share this Subissue on:LinkedIn
Resources
Business guidance on the assessment of wastewater-related impacts
This guidance from WBCSD can help your company to better understand and manage the impacts of untreated and partially treated wastewater. It provides a standardised, 5-step process for measuring, valuing, and managing the impacts of wastewater generated by your operating sites or those of suppliers. This guidance can also be used in conjunction with the Wastewater Impact Assessment Tool, which automates part of the process of applying the guidance.
Factsheets on Water Quality Parameters
These factsheets from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can help you to become familiar with common parameters for monitoring water quality. The fact sheets explore aspects of water quality such as temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, nutrients, macroinvertebrates, e. coli, metals, and habitat conditions. Each factsheet examines key questions related to why and how measurements are made for the parameter in question, what can affect the parameter (positively or negatively), and the challenges of using said parameter. These factsheets will be particularly useful for explaining water quality sampling to leaders and outside partners.
Wastewater Impact Assessment Tool (WIAT)
This tool from WBCSD can help you to undertake site-level assessments of pressures and changes on the state of nature and the impacts on climate, biodiversity, and water security resulting from industrial wastewater (water quality) and water use (water quantity). The tool uses wastewater treatment and water use data at a site level to calculate impact and levers of action for three key indicators: water quality, water availability, and GHG emissions. WIAT also pulls in and overlays contextual data from other global data sources to further highlight changes in the state of nature within a local context. WIAT is aligned with CDP and GRI, and the outputs of the tool are aligned with the SBTs for nature methodology. This tool will be of particular benefit to professionals tasked with setting science-based targets for nature.