Evolving Priorities, Evolving Methods, Evolving Concepts: A Retrospective View on a Century of "Water Quality"
Abstract
Water quality describes the profile of things water carries as it passes through and under landscapes, both human dominated and natural, moving from the atmosphere back to the sea. From sediments to solvents, and from oxygen to organisms, it captures and reflects the myriad ways water interacts with rocks and riverbeds, forests and fish, and the atmosphere and people. Because of the multitude of ways water quality can be altered, what we mean by water quality often exemplifies the axiom in science that we find what we look for. As such, it is not surprising that a centennial perspective on water quality reveals an evolving list of priorities, a relentless emergence of technological novelty, and shifting concepts of both degradation and remedies. This talk will explore some key historical milestones in the things we measure to define water quality, how we measure them, and most importantly, why we measure them. I posit that the history of water quality exemplifies how science matters to society, animating the crucial role AGU and Hydrologic Science has played, and will play for the next 100 years.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFM.H22C..08C
- Keywords:
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- 1899 General or miscellaneous;
- HYDROLOGY