Best practice in high-frequency water quality monitoring for improved management and assessment; a novel decision workflow

Abstract

The use of high-frequency water quality monitoring has increased over several decades. This has mostly been motivated by curiosity-driven research and has significantly improved our understanding of hydrochemical processes. Despite these scientific successes and the growth in sensor technology, the large-scale uptake of high-frequency water quality monitoring by water managers is hampered by a lack of comprehensive practical guidelines. Low-frequency hydrochemical data are still routinely used to review environmental policies but are prone to missing important event-driven processes. With a changing climate where such event-driven processes are more likely to occur and have a greater impact, the adoption of high-frequency water quality monitoring is becoming more pressing. To prepare regulators and environmental and hydrological agencies for these new challenges, this paper reviews international best practice in high-frequency data provision. As a result, we summarise the added value of high-frequency water quality monitoring, describe international best practices for sensors and analysers in the field, and evaluate the experience with high-frequency data cleaning. We propose a decision workflow that includes considerations of monitoring data needs, sensor choice, maintenance and calibration, and structured data processing. The workflow fills an important knowledge-exchange gap between research and statutory surveillance for future high-frequency water quality sensor uptake by practitioners and agencies.

Keywords

Water quality; High-frequency data; Sensors; Monitoring; Decision workflow

Published in

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
2025, volume: 197, number: 4, article number: 353
Publisher: SPRINGER

SLU Authors

• Bieroza, Magdalena

  • Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Oceanography, Hydrology, Water Resources

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-025-13795-z

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/141242