What is Water Quality?
The goal of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (commonly called the Clean Water Act) is “to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters” (Section 101(a)). Thus, water quality is made up of three components. The first component is the chemical quality of the water, which is whether the water has sufficient levels of dissolved oxygen, clarity, and lack of toxic substances to allow aquatic life to grow and reproduce, and whether the water can be used for swimming or as a source of drinking water for a public water supply. The second component is the physical quality of the aquatic habitat, including pools, riffles, woody debris piles, deep water, etc. needed by aquatic life to grow and reproduce so that the water can support viable and harvestable populations of fish for recreational and commercial uses. The third component is biological quality that includes the expected kinds and numbers of fish, aquatic insects, a
Water quality is associated with several different topics; water quality design storm, storage, velocity and volume. A water quality design storm is: a benchmark rainfall event, used to develop criteria for the design of water quality BMPs. Water quality design storms are used to size BMPs that are intended to achieve specific quality treatment objectives. Criteria based on water quality storms generally require that the design treatment efficiency be achieved during the water quality design storm and all smaller events. Complete specification of the storm includes total rainfall quantity, storm duration, and distribution of rainfall. Water quality storage is: the volume set aside within a BMP to detain storm runoff. The detained water is released over an extended period of time. The water quality storage is frequently expressed as a multiple of the water quality volume. Water quality velocity is: The maximum flow velocity encountered in a water quality BMP during the course of the wat
Water quality within the United States is highly regulated, involving strict guidelines and water quality testing. As a result, drinking water in the United States is among the safest to drink in the world. Although water quality in the United States is high, there are still some underlying problems. Therefore, both local and federal governments work constantly to ensure everyone in the community has safe drinking water. Drinking water comes from two major sources. Surface water such as lakes, rivers, and reservoirs provides much of the water used as drinking water. Groundwater, which is pumped from wells, is also a source of drinking water commonly used in rural areas. Surface water typically requires both filtration and disinfection in order to reach drinking water quality standards. Groundwater is considered to be the purest source of water. This is because it is naturally filtered when it passes through the layers of rock and sediment in an aquifer. Today, the Environmental Protect
