Water
Quality Surveillance
VERNON T. STACK, JR.
Weston and Stack, Inc. 446 Lancaster Avenue Malvern, PA 19355
TDEALLY, water quality management should be dynamic a t all levels of potential control. The levels of potential control can be considered a s : the wastewater source ; a collection site where water from a number of sources m a y be treated; and the receiving waters (stream, lake) which handle the drainage from an area or region. F o r effective management a t the control levels, adequate information about water quality must be available. In most situations continual information is necessary. This article is directed toward chemists or engineers interested in water quality surveillance and m a n agement and has an industrial point of view. T h e first two control levels above are "inside the fence" for industry and are recognized as an industrial management responsibility. 32 A
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Points of View
Control Agencies. The subject of water quality control and management is vested in the Environmental Protection Agency a t the federal level. T h e major federal goal has been the development of overall objectives for water quality. There has also been a significant program of research and development to bring technology to a level where overall objectives might be obtained. Equating of objectives with technology is considered but not required in the federal position, and programs for water quality improvement could be implemented even though technology to accomplish the objective could lead to costly solutions or might not be immediately available. The legal position of the enforcement efforts by E P A has been t h a t of action after-the-fact. A situa-
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 44, NO. 8, JULY 1972
tion in water quality degradation must have developed and have been accurately detected before action can be taken. Currently, federal enforcement is moving toward a before-the-fact position through future legislation based on effluent quality standards and the existing permit system as implemented through the Refuse Act of 1899. W a t e r quality control programs are presently in the hands of the states or regional authorities. I m plementation is through permit systems t h a t are after-the-fact for effluents predating the permit system and before-the-fact for more recent effluents. Federal enforcement presents itself when problems become interstate, or when governmental or citizen action within a State requests federal aid. Industry. T h e industrial position
