On-line monitoring station for water quality assessment

The Water Framework Directive (WFD), adopted in 2000 by the European Community requires the good status for all water bodies by 2015. With the aim of assessing the water quality and the trends in this quality, an on-line monitoring station has been implemented on the Rhone river. Beyond the measurement of physicochemical parameters: pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, turbidity, total organic carbon and nitrates, this station detects, in a continuous mode and in the range of mu g/L, the priority substances listed in the WFD, by means of spectrophotometric methods coupled to a SPE-like cartridge and by determination of the acute toxicity of the effluent. The first results confirm the good chemical status of the Rhone water.