Overview
On completion of this unit, you will have an understanding of the basic relationships between catchment health, water quality and ecosystem health in receiving waters. You will be able to explain the major threats to water quality and the ways to monitor and manage those threats through the monitoring of physical, chemical and biological parameters and through the preparation of water quality assessment plans. You must attend a compulsory residential school as part of this unit.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Prerequisite: 24 credit points.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2025
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from SUTE feedback
Students enjoyed the practical learning aspects of this unit especially the residential school.
Unit Coordinator should continue to provide students with practical learning opportunities, whether in-person or virtually.
- Describe the basic relationships between catchment health, water quality and end of catchment health
- Describe the major threats to instream and coastal water quality and the effects of land based pollutants on ecosystem health
- Explain the important physico-chemical and biological indicators of water quality and their application
- Discuss different management strategies to reduce diffuse and point source pollutants
- Apply appropriate standards and national guidelines, interpret data and results when designing a water quality assessment plan
- Work with others to assess water quality and ecosystem health in aquatic systems.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 35% | ||||||
| 2 - Practical and Written Assessment - 30% | ||||||
| 3 - Practical Assessment - 0% | ||||||
| 4 - Online Test - 35% | ||||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Communication | ||||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | ||||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | ||||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | ||||||
| 5 - Team Work | ||||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | ||||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | ||||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | ||||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | ||||||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Word processing software such as MS Word
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
e.bryson@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Week 1. Study Guide. Water as a Resource
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Week 2. Study Guide. Physical and chemical properties of water.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Week 3. Study Guide. Water pollutants and their sources.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Week 4. Study Guide. Microbiology of water.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Week 5. Study Guide. Water treatment.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Week 6. Study Guide. Wastewater treatment.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Week 7. Study Guide. Project design, monitoring, quality assurance and reporting.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL
Friday, 2 May - Sunday 4 May
Competency Assessment will be completed at the residential school.
Module/Topic
Week 8. Study Guide. Water quality standards, quality assurance and quality control.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Week 9. Study Guide. Integrated habitat assessment.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Week 10. Study Guide. Management of water resources.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Week 11. Study Guide. Catchment management.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Examination Review
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
End of Term Online Test - opens Thursday 5 June 2025 at 10:00 am AEST for 3 hours (plus 15 min. perusal time).
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Written Assessment
Design a monitoring plan for the waterway that is described in detail on the Moodle site. Identify the environmental stressors present in the system and discuss the field parameters and laboratory analyses that are relevant to them. Mention any health and safety issues that may be associated with the specific waterway. Complete the risk assessment that would also accompany this plan.
Please refer to the Generative AI Permission document available on your Moodle site for guidelines on the acceptable and unacceptable use of generative AI in this unit.
Week 10 Friday (23 May 2025) 11:00 pm AEST
Assessments will be returned within 14 days of being submitted.
Discussion of the environmental values and water quality issues (35%)
Appropriate choice of parameters and analyses and reasons for their selection (40%)
Appropriate safety procedures covered in the Risk Assessment (10%)
Clear writing style in correct English, accurate referencing, appropriate length and format (15%)
- Explain the important physico-chemical and biological indicators of water quality and their application
- Discuss different management strategies to reduce diffuse and point source pollutants
- Apply appropriate standards and national guidelines, interpret data and results when designing a water quality assessment plan
- Work with others to assess water quality and ecosystem health in aquatic systems.
2 Practical and Written Assessment
There will be a practical and written component to this assessment. You will be required to complete a report sheet based on the residential school activities.
A template with the information required and the questions that need to be answered will be provided on the Moodle site.
Please refer to the Generative AI Permission document available on your Moodle site for guidelines on the acceptable and unacceptable use of generative AI in this unit.
Week 8 Friday (9 May 2025) 11:00 pm AEST
Assessments will be returned within 14 days of being submitted.
The ability to perform laboratory and field tasks in addition to correctly answering questions on these is the basis of completing the Residential School Report.
The report will be assessed on the completeness and correctness of the answers.
- Describe the basic relationships between catchment health, water quality and end of catchment health
- Describe the major threats to instream and coastal water quality and the effects of land based pollutants on ecosystem health
- Explain the important physico-chemical and biological indicators of water quality and their application
- Discuss different management strategies to reduce diffuse and point source pollutants
- Apply appropriate standards and national guidelines, interpret data and results when designing a water quality assessment plan
3 Practical Assessment
You are required to collect field samples according to protocols and correctly complete a Chain of Custody Form that would be required in order to legally send these samples to a laboratory for further analysis. This task is completed at the compulsory Residential School. This is a Pass/Fail task.
The residential school will be held during Week 7.
Please refer to the Generative AI Permission document available on your Moodle site for guidelines on the acceptable and unacceptable use of generative AI in this unit.
Completed during Residential School.
Returned to students during Residential School.
You will be assessed on the use of correct sampling protocols, completeness, correct reference to samples collected and readability of the Chain of
Custody Form completed at the Residential School. This is a Pass/Fail Task.
- Work with others to assess water quality and ecosystem health in aquatic systems.
4 Online Test
The online test covers content you have studied within weeks 1 to 12.
You will only be allowed 1 attempt at this assessment. This assessment has seven questions worth 15 marks each. The total marks allocated to this assessment item is 105. It contributes 35% of your final grade.
Please refer to the Generative AI Permission document available on your Moodle site for guidelines on the acceptable and unacceptable use of generative AI in this unit.
The online test opens Thursday 5 June 2025 at 10:00 am AEST for 3 hours (plus 15 min. perusal time).
Results will be returned within 14 days.
The end of term online assessment will be assessed with respect to the completeness and correctness of the answers.
- Describe the basic relationships between catchment health, water quality and end of catchment health
- Describe the major threats to instream and coastal water quality and the effects of land based pollutants on ecosystem health
- Explain the important physico-chemical and biological indicators of water quality and their application
- Discuss different management strategies to reduce diffuse and point source pollutants
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
