Water monitoring: A dynamic process

Monitoring of the waters in the U.S. is a dynamic process, which has evolved with environmental legislation. In the past, water monitoring was directed at the conventional sanitary parameters. However, over the years, water monitoring has evolved to include various toxic compounds. Several federal agencies and States are now actually involved in monitoring and data are easily accessible through widely used data storage and retrieval systems. Recently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published a Basic Water Monitoring Program, which gives new direction to the conduct of water monitoring at the State level.