Design environmental surveys
Assignment 2
Survey purpose assessment & design
Student name
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Assessor
Adam Samuelson
Assessment ID
DES-2
Due Date
End of Semester 1
Total Marks Available
Marks Gained
Teacher to mark
Final score (%)
Teacher to mark
Date Marked
Teacher to mark
Weighting
This assignment will form 15% of your overall assessment mark
Design environmental surveys
Assignment 2
Purpose
This assignment relates the field and laboratory activities you perform to real world
standards associated with water quality monitoring for environmental compliance purposes.
There are four main types of water quality sampling program used in Australia today;

Baseline surveys

Pollution incident assessments

Water quality monitoring programs

Statutory monitoring programs
When designing sampling programs, you need to consider a great deal other than just the
sample point and the location. There is a great many details that need to be considered and
the Water Quality Monitoring Guidelines are the document that paints a very detailed
picture of what is required.
This assignment will provide you with enough questioning power to understand the process
involved and provide you with enough knowledge to ‘look through’ the sampling phase into
the management requirements and empower you to perform a better job at any level of the
program implementation.
Assignment
You will acquire the following documents;
1. AS/NZS 5667.1:1998 Water Quality – Sampling. Part 1: Guidance on the design of
sampling programs, sampling techniques and the preservation and handling of samples.
2. The NWQMS Monitoring Guidelines (Chapter 7)
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Assignment 2
Task 1 – Setting program objectives
In this task, you will define the Toronto water quality monitoring program. Once defined you
will obtain spatial information about the program as well as other information about the
types of activities performed in the area.
1. What is the Toronto Water Quality Monitoring Program?
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2. According to the Australian Standard, what type of monitoring program is it?
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3. What potential problem has caused the monitoring program to be planned?
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4. What are the specific objectives of the program?
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5. Who requires the information? What will the information used for?
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6. What timelines for the objectives has been given?
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Assignment 2
Task 2 – Designing the study
1. What are the spatial (geographic) boundaries of the study?
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2. Which creek or river systems are involved in the study?
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3. Does the scale of the study reflect the region of interest?
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4. What is the duration of the study? Does this timeframe allow for temporal variation
in data?
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5. What are the potential sources of variability from this area?
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6. Are there sufficient bodies of water to accommodate variability?
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7. Identify the specific creeks or tributaries to be included in the study.
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8. Has spatial variation in sites been considered and have options been found to
minimise this variation?
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9. On what basis is the frequency of sampling proposed?
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10. Has the cost-effectiveness of the study design been examined?
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Assignment 2
Task 3 - Designing the field sampling program
11. Based on the creeks and rivers included in the study, identify the best locations for
the sampling points on a map.
a. How are the positions of sampling sites to be recorded?
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b. How are the positions to be identified (i.e. codes)
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12. How will the samples be taken?
a. Will the samples be representative?
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b. Do disturbances occur in the environment being sampled?
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c. Will the sample be altered by contact with the sampling device?
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d. Will the sample device contaminate the sample? If yes, how is the sample
device to be cleaned?
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e. How are samples to be collected to prevent contamination?
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f. How are the samples to be stored and transported?
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g. What sample container requirements are there?
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13. Based on information about the general area, what measurement parameters could
be the most appropriate?
a. How are they relevant?
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b. Do they have explanatory power about the potential problems?
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c. Can they be used to detect changes and trends?
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d. Can they be measured reliably, reproducibly and cost-effectively?
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e. Are the parameters appropriate for the time and spatial scales of the study?
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f. What ancillary field observations are to be taken?
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14. What are the analytical requirements for the samples?
a. What analytes are to be tested?
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b. What preservatives are required for these analytes?
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15. What are the QA/QC requirements?
a. Are there procedures in place to track samples?
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b. Are there procedures in place to track field data?
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c. Are there procedures in place to track calibration data?
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d. Have blanks, duplicates and other QC systems been incorporated?
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e. How is data to be stored and controlled?
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16. What are the WHS inclusions to be incorporated into the program?
a. Have all reasonable steps been taken to protect health and safety of
employees?
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b. Have hazards been identified and documented?
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c. Have sampling staff been trained to ensure that sampling is done safely?
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d. Have risk minimisation plans been developed?
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e. Will staff (i.e. students in this case) be appropriately supervised?
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17. Procedures and documentation
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a. What documents are involved in the study? Provide a list of all the paperwork
and forms that are used throughout the program.
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Assignment 2
Appendix 1 – Map of Toronto area
Maps & diagrams
This map shows the LT Creek catchment (top), the Stony Creek catchment (middle) and the
lower Stockyard Creek catchment.
Map 1 – General area and location of the three catchments and creeks.
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Assignment 2
Where to get help
Contact your teacher if you run into any trouble this unit. You would be surprised how
flexible we are at accommodating your needs, but communication is the key. If you don’t let
us know you are having trouble, we may have trouble trying to help you.
References

AS-5667.1 1998

The NWQMS Monitoring Guidelines (Chapter 7)

Your teacher
Submission
Students are to submit all assessments by the due date to the subject teacher by email using
the following filename format;
firstname-surname-assessmentname-duedate
Visit cffet.net/env/assessment for more information on submitting assessments, file names
and available file extensions that you can use.
Other resources
Note that some of these resources might be available from your teacher or library
Just the references – do not use general internet searches for this as the questions are very
specific to the Australian Standards and the Guidelines.
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