Water quality

Water quality measurements were an important component in dealing with issues such as water potability. Four major features helped with the shaping of water quality studies at Wallingford. This chapter gives the background to how water quality modelling emerged as a research and management tool in its own right and highlights particular important studies that have been undertaken in following that road. Water quality modelling research was very limited at IH prior to the 1980s. Crucially, the identification of fractal stream water quality and the observed complexity of both water quality and biological functioning represent a major challenge for the modelling communities. Modelling of fractal systems will require new approaches and different ways of thinking. The new lines of measurement and the vast volume of data collected within CEH water quality studies are in the vanguard for change.