The Evolution of Water Quality Monitoring

 

In the Beginning




Deep in our primal being, testing water quality has been central to the human experience — and human survival. Scan for predators, look for dead animals beside the watering hole, sniff the air, taste the water, see how other members of the clan fared after drinking there. When we shared the watering hole with mastodons and saber-toothed cats, understanding water quality was an immediate need (though it was addressed on a pretty broad-brush basis).

Our understanding of health and science has flowed from the need for clean water. From the Hippocratic sleeve for filtering water to the teeming droplet under van Leeuwenhoek’s first microscope to the birth of modern epidemiology in 1854 at London’s contaminated Broad Street pump, water quality and modern science have been constant partners.

Driven by technology, public health, science and environmental concern, the past few decades have been the most exciting yet for water quality monitoring. The capability to measure a wide range of water quality parameters has expanded from the laboratory bench to the field.

Water quality data collection has moved from written notes transcribed by a quivering analog needle to digital display readouts to sophisticated digital electronics with data telemetry options.

Sampling capacity has advanced from a few hand measurements a day, one parameter at a time, to constant streams of data transmitted by multiparameter instruments deployed for months at a time. And the resolution of data — temporally, spatially and in terms of accuracy — has spiked .

In this eBook, we’ll reflect on the remarkable evolution of water quality monitoring. It’s a tribute to the people at the design table, in the lab, on the manufacturing line and our customers in the field who bring their knowledge and passion to minding the planet.

To read e-book go to:  http://vertassets.blob.core.windows.net/download/a833d66e/a833d66e-f867-45a4-bc5b-7379e1fcdba5/evolution_of_water_quality_monitoring_ebookv2.pdf