ASTM International

Standard Guide for Monitoring Aqueous Nutrients in Watersheds
 N D6146

Annotation

Purpose—This guide is intended to provide general guidance on a watershed monitoring program directed toward the plant nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus. The guide offers a series of general steps without setting forth a specific course of action. It gives assistance for developing a monitoring program but not a program for implementing measures to improve water quality.

This guide applies to waters found in streams and rivers; lakes, ponds, and reservoirs; estuaries; wetlands; the atmosphere; and the vadose and subsurface saturated zones (including aquifers). This guide does not apply to nutrients found in soils, plants, or animals.

Nutrients as used in this guide are intended to include nitrogen and phosphorus in dissolved, gaseous, and particulate forms. Specific species of nitrogen include: nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, organic, total Kjeldahl, and nitrous oxide. The species of phosphorus include total, total dissolved, organic, acid-hydrolyzable, and reactive phosphorus as described in (2)

Safety—Health and safety practices developed for a project may need to consider the following:

During the construction of sampling stations:

Drilling practices during monitoring well installations,

Overhead and underground utilities during monitoring well drilling,

Traffic patterns/concerns during sampling station installation,

Traffic patterns/concerns during surveying sampling station locations and elevations,

Drilling through materials highly contaminated with fertilizers, and