Water exists in every ecosystem, as it is vital to life. All organisms rely on water for their survival, and in aquatic ecosystems, plants and animals have adapted to live in water with specific conditions. We can monitor these conditions to ensure the health of ecosystems so that they can continue to serve as habitat to wildlife and provide us with valued ecosystem services.
Access to clean water is also necessary for human survival. UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that 2.2 billion people worldwide—that’s one in three—live without access to safely managed drinking water due to water scarcity and pollution. It's important that we understand how to identify unsafe water and how to keep it clean in order to better manage this critical resource.
The following infographic highlights some of the common water quality indicators, why they are important, and how we measure them.
A preview of the infographic is below.
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Sources for this infographic include:
1. https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/ph-and-water
2. https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/turbidity-and-water
3. https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/temperature-and-water
4. https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/saline-water-and-salinity
5. https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/soils/salinity/general-information/measuring
6. https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/dissolved-oxygen-and-water
7. https://archive.epa.gov/water/archive/web/html/vms57.html
8. https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/nitrogen-and-water
9. https://archive.epa.gov/water/archive/web/html/vms57.html
10. https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/phosphorus-and-water
11. https://archive.epa.gov/water/archive/web/html/vms56.html