Water-Quality Surveillance of Swiss Rivers

Water-quality surveillance is essential for the detection of anthropogenic impacts on rivers. The surveillance strategy designed by the EAWAG combines long-term, continuous monitoring necessary for assessing the success of measures implemented to fight pollution with short, intensive field and laboratory studies to elucidate element transformations and transport processes.Emphasis is put on sound methods of sampling and sample processing which are paramount for a clear interpretation of river quality data. Results from process-oriented case studies show how a combination of different methods of sampling and analysis brought new insights into phosphorus transport pathways and on the availability of particle-bound phosphate for phytoplankton.