Significance and Use

The user of this guide is not assumed to be a trained technical practitioner in the water quality field. The guide is an assembly of the components common to all aspect of watershed nutrient monitoring and fulfills a need in the development of a common framework for a better coordinated and a more unified approach to nutrient monitoring in watersheds.

Limitations This guide does not establish a standard procedure to follow in all situations and it does not cover the detail necessary to meet all of the needs of a particular monitoring objective. Other standards and guides included in the references describe the detail of the procedures.

1. Scope

1.1 Purpose This guide is intended to provide general guidance on a watershed monitoring program directed toward the plant nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus. The guide offers a series of general steps without setting forth a specific course of action. It gives assistance for developing a monitoring program but not a program for implementing measures to improve water quality.

1.2 This guide applies to waters found in streams and rivers; lakes, ponds, and reservoirs; estuaries; wetlands; the atmosphere; and the vadose and subsurface saturated zones (including aquifers). This guide does not apply to nutrients found in soils, plants, or animals.

1.3 Nutrients as used in this guide are intended to include nitrogen and phosphorus in dissolved, gaseous, and particulate forms. Specific species of nitrogen include: nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, organic, total Kjeldahl, and nitrous oxide. The species of phosphorus include total, total dissolved, organic, acid-hydrolyzable, and reactive phosphorus as described in ( 2 )

1.4 Safety Health and safety practices developed for a project may need to consider the following:

1.4.1 During the construction of sampling stations:

1.4.1.1 Drilling practices during monitoring well installations,

1.4.1.2 Overhead and underground utilities during monitoring well drilling,

1.4.1.3 Traffic patterns/concerns during sampling station installation,

1.4.1.4 Traffic patterns/concerns during surveying sampling station locations and elevations,

1.4.1.5 Drilling through materials highly contaminated with fertilizers, and

1.4.1.6 Installing monitoring equipment below the soil surface.

1.4.2 During the collection of water samples:

1.4.2.1 Using acids for sample preservation,

1.4.2.2 Sampling during flooding events and ice conditions,

1.4.2.3 Traffic on bridges,

1.4.2.4 Condition of sampling stations following flood events,

1.4.2.5 Sampling of water or soils, or both, highly contaminated with fertilizers,

1.4.2.6 Conditions of sampling stations resulting from vandalism,

1.4.2.7 Adverse weather conditions, and

1.4.2.8 Transporting liquid samples.

1.5 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.

2. Referenced Documents (purchase separately) The documents listed below are referenced within the subject standard but are not provided as part of the standard.

ASTM Standards

D515 Test Methods for Phosphorus in Water

D653 Terminology Relating to Soil, Rock, and Contained Fluids

D1129 Terminology Relating to Water

D1357 Practice for Planning the Sampling of the Ambient Atmosphere

D1426 Test Methods for Ammonia Nitrogen In Water

D1739 Test Method for Collection and Measurement of Dustfall (Settleable Particulate Matter)

D3370 Practices for Sampling Water from Closed Conduits

D3590 Test Methods for Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen in Water

D3856 Guide for Management Systems in Laboratories Engaged in Analysis of Water

D3858 Test Method for Open-Channel Flow Measurement of Water by Velocity-Area Method

D3867 Test Methods for Nitrite-Nitrate in Water

D4410 Terminology for Fluvial Sediment

D4448 Guide for Sampling Ground-Water Monitoring Wells

D4696 Guide for Pore-Liquid Sampling from the Vadose Zone

D4700 Guide for Soil Sampling from the Vadose Zone

D5092 Practice for Design and Installation of Ground Water Monitoring Wells

D5851 Guide for Planning and Implementing a Water Monitoring Program

D6145 Guide for Monitoring Sediment in Watersheds

Keywords

atmospheric; environmental indicators; estuary; ground water; monitoring; nitrogen; nonpoint source pollution; nutrient; phosphorus; point source pollution; soil pore water; surface water; water monitoring; water quality; watershed monitoring; vadose zone;

ICS Code

ICS Number Code 13.060.50 (Examination of water for chemical substances)

DOI: 10.1520/D6146-97R12

ASTM International is a member of CrossRef.

ASTM D6146