I would like to primarily ...

I would like to primarily focus on the chemical and physical indicators. It is critical that we primarily focus on parameters which are easy to measure. This would essentially be the 'first line of defence'. If the preliminary indicators indicate values which are not quite acceptable, these would act as the trigger that something is wrong and that remedial action is needed.

Accordingly, for physical indicators, I would suggest as preliminary parameters, turbidity, electrical conductivity and suspeneded solids. For chemical indicators, I would suggest pH, total organic carbon and either biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) or chemical oxygen demand (COD).

Water professionals can contribute significantly to this process. We could help to develop relationships between these parameters and those which are more cdifficult to measure parameter. Essentially, these preliminary parameters would act as surrogates to assess other parameters. This approach would result in significant time and cost savings.