Best practice in high-frequency water quality monitoring for improved management and assessment; a novel decision workflow
Joachim Rozemeijer, Phil Jordan, A.E.J. Hooijboer, Brian Kronvang, Miriam Glendell, Robert T. Hensley, Karsten Rinke, Marc Stutter, Magdalena Bieroza, Ryan Turner, Per‐Erik Mellander, Peter J. Thorburn, Rachel Cassidy, Joep Appels, Kevin Ouwerkerk, Michael Rode
Abstract
The use of high-frequency water quality monitoring has increased over several decades. This has mostly been motivated by curiosity-driven research and has significantly improved our understanding of hydrochemical processes. Despite these scientific successes and the growth in sensor technology, the large-scale uptake of high-frequency water quality monitoring by water managers is hampered by a lack of comprehensive practical guidelines. Low-frequency hydrochemical data are still routinely used to review environmental policies but are prone to missing important event-driven processes. With a changing climate where such event-driven processes are more likely to occur and have a greater impact, the adoption of high-frequency water quality monitoring is becoming more pressing. To prepare regulators and environmental and hydrological agencies for these new challenges, this paper reviews international best practice in high-frequency data provision. As a result, we summarise the added value of high-frequency water quality monitoring, describe international best practices for sensors and analysers in the field, and evaluate the experience with high-frequency data cleaning. We propose a decision workflow that includes considerations of monitoring data needs, sensor choice, maintenance and calibration, and structured data processing. The workflow fills an important knowledge-exchange gap between research and statutory surveillance for future high-frequency water quality sensor uptake by practitioners and agencies.