Provides detailed guidance on the design of sampling programs, sampling techniques and the handling and preservation of samples of groundwater. It is technically equivalent to and has been reproduced from ISO 5667-11:1993.

This part of ISO 5667 provides guidance on the design of sampling programmes, sampling techniques and the handling of water samples taken from groundwater for physical, chemical and microbiological assessment. It does not cover sampling related to the day-to-day operational control of groundwater abstractions for potable or other purposes, but is concerned with the general surveillance of groundwater quality. Because of the complexity of groundwater systems, many specific sampling applications will require specialist hydrogeological advice which cannot be detailed in this part of ISO 5667.A definition of the purpose of groundwater sampling is an essential prerequisite before identifying the principles to be applied to a particular sampling problem. The general purpose of sampling programmes commonly devised for groundwaters is to survey the quality of groundwater supplies, to detect and assess groundwater pollution and to assist in groundwater resource management. The principles set out in this part of ISO 5667 also apply to the following more detailed objectives:a) to determine the suitability of groundwater as a source of drinking water or industrial/agricultural water, and to monitor its quality during supply;b) to identify, at an early stage, the pollution of aquifers caused by potentially hazardous surface or sub-surface activities (e.g. the operation of waste disposal sites, industrial developments, mineral exploitation, agricultural practices, changes in land use);c) to monitor and understand the movement of pollutants, in order to assess their impact on groundwater quality and to calibrate and validate suitable groundwater quality models;d) to develop an understanding of groundwater quality variations, including those caused by deliberate actions (e.g. variations in ground-water pumping regimes, groundwater recharge by effluent, surface clean-up activities arising from contaminated waste disposal sites), in order to achieve optimal resource management;e) to collect data for pollution-control law-enforcement.

First published as AS/NZS 5667.11:1998.Reconfirmed 2016. First published as AS/NZS 5667.11:1998.