The Harmonised monitoring scheme was a long term

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

monitoring Monitoring may refer to: Science and technology Biology and healthcare * Monitoring (medicine), the observation of a disease, condition or one or several medical parameters over time * Baby monitoring * Biomonitoring, of toxic chemical compounds, ...

scheme in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. The term is also used to refer to the long term

data set A data set (or dataset) is a collection of data. In the case of tabular data, a data set corresponds to one or more database tables, where every column of a table represents a particular variable, and each row corresponds to a given record of the ...

s produced by the scheme.

Establishment

The scheme was established in 1974 by the

Department of the Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

with much of the initial planning and implementation undertaken by the Water Research Centre. It involved the creation of a network of sites across the UK. Most sites were at the downstream

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

limits of the larger rivers although some of the largest rivers also included additional locations below major tributary confluences. Before inclusion of any location in the survey, homogeneity testing was carried out to characterise quality variations laterally and vertically within the river section chosen. For each designated point a specific sampling location was identified based on the results of the homogeneity exercise. In addition laboratories who were to undertake the analysis of samples were identified and a comprehensive AQC exercise was conducted to ensure comparability of data derived from the monitoring programme.

Objectives

The scheme was originally intended to operate for 10 years from 1974 to 1984 to provide date to the Department of the Environment to permit the identification of national trends in water quality. However its duration was extended. It was discontinued in 2013. It was also intended to satisfy the requirements of the EU decision on the exchange of monitoring data requirements.

Operation

The scheme is administered by the

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, by

Natural Resources Wales Natural Resources Wales ( cy, Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru) is a Welsh Government sponsored body, which became operational from 1 April 2013, when it took over the management of the natural resources of Wales. It was formed from a merger of the Count ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and by SEPA in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and involves routine monitoring at 230 sites including 56 river systems in Scotland.

Data

The data produced by the scheme provides a continuous and consistent record of quality of rivers across the UK for more than 30 years and can be used to demonstrate changes in water quality over that period.{{Cite web , url=http://www.sepa.org.uk/science_and_research/data_and_reports/water/scottish_river_water_quality.aspx , title=SEPA -Scottish River water quality trends , work=www.sepa.org.uk , access-date=2011-07-30 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110918003519/http://www.sepa.org.uk/science_and_research/data_and_reports/water/scottish_river_water_quality.aspx , archive-date=2011-09-18 , url-status=dead

References

Environmental chemistry Rivers