Overview
On completion of this unit, students will have an understanding of the basic relationships between catchment health, water quality and ecosystem health in receiving waters. Students should 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. Students must attend a compulsory residential school or on-campus lab classes in order to achieve the leaning outcomes.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Prerequisites: ENVR11012 Applications of Environmental Science Or CHEM11041 Chemistry for the Life Sciences
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 - 2018
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).
Residential Schools
This unit has a Compulsory Residential School for distance mode students and the details are:
Click here to see your Residential School Timetable.
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 Course feedback
Using the residential school to better relate the practical work to the unit material and water quality.
Increase the time spent in pre-laboratory explanations and allow the students more hands-on water quality testing. It is suggested that the atomic absorption analyser is housed in a dry space to allow execution of experiments.
Feedback from Course feedback.
Include pictures on the Powerpoint slides for the course to make it more interesting.
Photographs should be added to the lecture slides where relevant.
- 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 - 25% | ||||||
| 2 - Practical and Written Assessment - 25% | ||||||
| 3 - Examination - 50% | ||||||
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 | ||||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 25% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Practical and Written Assessment - 25% | ||||||||||
| 3 - Examination - 50% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
j.wake@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Hydrological cycle, water quality guidelines and environmental values
Chapter
Study Guide Section 1
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chemistry of water
Chapter
Study Guide Section 2
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Water pollutants and their sources
Chapter
Study Guide Section 3
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Microbiology of water
Chapter
Study Guide Section 4
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Water and wastewater treatment
Chapter
Study Guide Section 5
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Project design and monitoring
Chapter
Study Guide Section 6
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Water quality standards, quality assurance and quality control
Chapter
Study Guide Section 7
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Residential School 2nd - 4th May
Module/Topic
Integrated habitat assessment
Chapter
Study Guide Section 8
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Management of water resources
Chapter
Study Guide Section 9
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Catchment management
Chapter
Study Guide Section 10
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Review and exam preparation
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
There is a compulsory residential school held in Rockhampton on 2nd to 4th May.
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.
Maximum 2000 words
Week 6 Monday (16 Apr 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 8 Monday (30 Apr 2018)
Discussion of the environmental values and water quality issues (35%)
Appropriate choice of parameters and analyses (35%)
Appropriate safety procedures (15%)
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
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Team Work
- Information Technology Competence
2 Practical and Written Assessment
There will be a practical and written component to this assessment.
Practical Exercise (5%)
You are required to calibrate water quality meters and correctly collect water samples. You will be given the chance to repeat this activity three times to perform it successfully.
Written Report (20%)
You will be required to complete a report sheet based on the residential school activities. A template outling the information required and the questions that need to be answered will be provided on the moodle site.
Week 11 Monday (21 May 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
Review/Exam Week Monday (4 June 2018)
Practical exercise will be assessed on the ability to perform laboratory and field tasks.
Report sheet 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
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Ethical practice
Examination
No calculators permitted
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?
