Services

Water Quality Monitoring

What water quality monitoring services do we offer?

MScience offer a variety of water quality monitoring services and frequently act as expert reviewers of third-party programs.

Water Quality Monitoring Instruments and Management
  • MScience maintain a range of water quality instruments:
    • handheld devices;
    • in situ loggers; and
    • telemetered buoys.
  • Our installation and maintenance procedures cover both diverless and diver-based solutions.
  • We frequently work with instrument manufacturers, such as Fastwave, to develop specialised or telemetered instruments for the real-time monitoring of water quality characteristics.
  • MScience scientists are experts in water quality monitoring data management, interpretation and reporting.

Boat Based and Remote Sensing Assessments of Water Quality
  • Remote sensing assessment of plumes with elevated Suspended Sediment Concentration (SSC), using MODIS, Sentinel-II and other platforms.
  • Boat-based water quality assessment campaigns to quantify relationships between turbidity, light attenuation, suspended sediment concentrations and remote imaging (eg MODIS). Spatial and temporal variation in metal, nutrients and other water quality characteristics.

Chemical Assessments of Water Quality
  • Evaluation of a variety of specialised water chemistry properties.
  • Detection of contaminants in the water column.
  • Evaluation of hydrocarbon effluent impacts on water quality.
  • For specific studies of water chemistry that relate to outfall discharges or potential pollution issues, see our Studies page.

Examples of Major Water Quality Monitoring Projects

Pilbara Ports Authority Channel Risk and Optimisation Project (CROP) : Successfully executed three years of water quality monitoring using a combination of remote sensing (MODIS) and in situ logging instruments for dredging associated with the CROP

Woodside Pluto LNG : Long term monitoring of water quality throughout almost 3 years of dredging, using real-time telemetered instrumentation and logging instruments. The continuous monitoring at 25 sites in and around Mermaid Sound represented the largest water quality monitoring program completed on the North-West Shelf and the first successful use of telemetered systems in the region.

Chevron Wheatstone LNG : Design of baseline water quality monitoring together with a complementary boat based program. Baseline included long term continuous monitoring of water quality around sensitive coral receptor sites. The boat-based program established and quantified relationships between various water quality characteristics and has been used to assess water quality through calibration of MODIS imagery.

Chevron Gorgon LNG : Provided independent assessment of instrument options for telemetered turbidity measurement and ongoing oversight role in the design, manufacture, delivery, deployment and data management of these instruments for this project. Acted as an independent expert reviewer appointed by the WA Government to evaluate the results of the operator’s monitoring programs.