Water Quality & Investigations
An expert team delivering key water quality monitoring programs in Queensland, Australia.
The Water Quality & Investigations (WQI) team includes highly specialised water quality scientists, statisticians, technical specialists, hydrographers, ecotoxicologists, Geographic Information System experts and developers.
The team is actively involved in:
- pesticide risk assessments in the Great Barrier Reef Catchments
- environmental investigations
- assessments relating to pollution
- development of water quality Australian guidelines
- water quality and aquatic ecosystem health, particularly in relation to per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other emerging contaminants
Data analysis and visualisation tools, reports and peer-reviewed publications are available here.
The below does not apply to third party data.
Quality Assurance and Quality Control
All Programs are underpinned by a comprehensive quality management framework that meets appropriate Queensland, Australian and International Standards. The framework ensures high standards in the collection, management, and delivery of water quality data, data interpretation, advice, and research.
A Quality Committee composed of Program managers and quality assurance specialists develop and review the quality management framework regularly to provide auditable, transparent policy and procedures.
Quality assurance is facilitated by using laboratories accredited by the National Association of Testing Authorities (Australia) and rigorous in-person training which ensures that each sampling process is performed using the same methods, skills, and control in accordance with the Queensland Environmental Protection (Water) Policy 2009 and Monitoring and Sampling Manual (DES 2018).
The team seeks to improve its effectiveness and efficiency on a continuous basis to provide consistency and reliability of data.
Water Quality Sample Collection
The team has been collecting water quality samples in Queensland since 2005. Annually, the team monitors over one hundred sites covering more than two-thirds of the basins that flow to the Great Barrier Reef lagoon, as well as over a dozen sites across basins in South East Queensland.
Manual and automated sampling techniques are used to collect water samples that are analysed for various parameters related to sediment, nutrients, and pesticides.
Monitoring is more frequent during rain events to facilitate the calculation of a Pesticide Risk Metric and the total mass (load) of nutrients and sediments delivered to the Great Barrier Reef lagoon and Moreton Bay.
The number and location of sites changes regularly to meet the requirements of the Programs, as does the suite of parameters monitored. The WQI team collect water samples from waterways manually, while remotely operated pumps are used to collect water samples automatically.
A range of water quality parameters monitored
The sampling is focused mainly on total suspended solids (sediment), nitrogen and phosphorus compounds (i.e. nutrients), and pesticides to meet the requirements of the Programs. Some physical parameters such as pH, turbidity and conductivity are also monitored depending on project requirements or to provide context to the nutrient and pesticide data.
Concentration values are used in conjunction with discharge measurements (water volume flowing past the monitoring station) to calculate annual and daily mass loads and yields (load per unit area of land) of pollutants. Pesticide risk, expressed as the Pesticide Risk Metric, is also calculated and reported as the annual wet season risk (percentage of aquatic species affected). Daily load, yield and daily pesticides risk are also calculated.
The methods to calculate the loads and Pesticides Risk Metrics are available here.
Monitoring Stations
The monitoring stations are designed and tailored to the specific requirements of the monitoring location. The sites include equipment for a range of purposes:
- The recording of river level and water velocity,
- The collection of samples for sediments and nutrients and/or pesticides, and
- The systems required to support and maintain the monitoring station remotely.
Water level and velocity data are required for the calculation of discharge (water volume flowing past the monitoring station). The collection of discrete water samples requires in-stream pumps and automatic refrigerated water samplers with either plastic (for sediments and nutrients) or glass (for pesticides) bottles. The support systems for each station include data loggers, telemetry modems, power supply systems and equipment control mechanisms.
Queensland Government acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land and pays respect to Elders past, present and future.
© The State of Queensland (Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation) 2017-2025
Queensland Government