Website content change log
This change log documents significant changes to the Water Quality Guidelines website that may be of interest to users. This log can be used as a record of key changes to guideline content, including updates to default guideline values.
You may request further information on a particular item by emailing waterquality@dcceew.gov.au and citing the reference number.
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Change log 2025
| Reference no. | Date of change | Page title and address | Description of change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-01 | 28/02/2025 | Pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication | The following three drafts DGVs are now available for public comment: Public comment period closes 28 May 2025. Tables of remaining toxicants have been updated to reflect progress in their development. |
Change log 2024
| Reference no. | Date of change | Page title and address | Description of change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-10 | 29/11/2024 | Search for default guideline values | The following four Default Guideline Values (DGVs) have now been published on the website after successfully passing through the public comment phase: The search tool has been updated to include the changes. The master table of toxicants default guideline values has also been updated and is available for download. |
| 2024-09 | 1/11/2024 | Additional information and guidance related to water quality | Draft Australian Anti-Fouling and In-Water Cleaning Guidelines is now available for public comment. The closing date for public submissions is 1 March 2025. |
| 2024-08 | 04/10/2024 | Pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication | The following three drafts DGVs are now available for public comment: Public comment period closes Saturday 4 February 2025. Tables of remaining toxicants have been updated to reflect progress in their development. |
| 2024-07 | 22/08/2024 | Search for default guideline values | The following four Default Guideline Values (DGVs) have now been published on the website after successfully passing through the public comment phase: The search tool has been updated to include the changes. The master table of toxicants default guideline values has also been updated and is available for download. |
| 2024-06 | 05/07/2024 | Pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication | The following four drafts DGVs are now available for public comment:
Public comment period closes Saturday 5 October 2024. Tables of remaining toxicants have been updated to reflect progress in their development. |
| 2024-05 | 30/05/2024 | Pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication | The following two drafts DGVs are now available for public comment:
Public comment period closes Friday 30 August 2024. Tables of remaining toxicants have been updated to reflect progress in their development. |
| 2024-04 | 20/03/2024 | Pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication | The following three draft DGVs are now available for public comment:
Public comment period closes Thursday 20 June 2024. Tables of remaining toxicants have been updated to reflect progress in their development. |
| 2024-03 | 12/01/2024 | Primary industries – Irrigation Guidelines | The draft revised irrigation guidelines are now available on the website for public comment. The guidelines provide guidance and default guideline values applicable for irrigation water in Australia and New Zealand. Public comment period closes 12 April 2024. |
| 2024-02 | 10/01/2024 | Search for default guideline values | The search tool has been updated to include the following toxicant:
The master table of toxicant default guideline values has also been updated and is available for download. |
| 2024-01 | 10/01/2024 | Picloram in freshwater | Default guideline values (DGVs) for picloram in freshwater have now been published on the website after successfully passing through the public comment phase (refer to pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication for more information on the approval process). |
Change log 2023
| Reference no. | Date of change | Page title and address | Description of change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-12 | 10/11/2023 | Primary industries - livestock drinking water | The draft revised livestock drinking water guidelines are now available on the website for public comment. The guidelines provide guidance and default guideline values applicable to both groundwater and surface water provided for livestock drinking water in Australia and New Zealand. Public comment period closes 10 March 2024. |
| 2023-11 | 10/11/2023 | Pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication | The fluoride in freshwater draft DGVs are now available for public comment. Public comment period closes 10 March 2024. Tables 1 to 4 have been updated for each toxicant on this web page to reflect progress in their DGVs review or development. |
| 2023-10 | 20/09/2023 | Pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication | The following two draft DGVs are now available for public comment:
Public comment period closes Wednesday 20 December 2023. Tables of remaining toxicants have been updated to reflect progress in their development. |
| 2023-09 | 20/07/2023 | Ecosystem Receptor Indicators | Updated guidance on the measurement of ecosystem receptor indicators has been published on the website. The guidance describes 4 lines of evidence for the assessment of water and sediment quality in Australia and New Zealand, and is applicable to all water types. |
| 2023-08 | 18/07/2023 | Search for default guideline values | The search tool has been updated to include the following toxicants:
The master table of toxicant default guideline values has also been updated and is available for download. |
| 2023-07 | 17/07/2023 | Mancozeb in freshwater | Default guideline values (DGVs) for mancozeb in freshwater have now been published on the website after successfully passing through the public comment phase (refer to pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication for more information on the approval process). |
| 2023-06 | 17/07/2023 | Fipronil in freshwater | Default guideline values (DGVs) for fipronil in freshwater have now been published on the website after successfully passing through the public comment phase (refer to pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication for more information on the approval process). |
| 2023-05 | 17/07/2023 | Dioxins in freshwater | Default guideline values (DGVs) for dioxins in freshwater have now been published on the website after successfully passing through the public comment phase (refer to pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication for more information on the approval process). |
| 2023-04 | 17/07/2023 | Bisphenol A in marine water | Default guideline values (DGVs) for bisphenol A in marine water have now been published on the website after successfully passing through the public comment phase (refer to pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication for more information on the approval process). |
| 2023-03 | 17/07/2023 | Bisphenol A in freshwater | Default guideline values (DGVs) for bisphenol A in freshwater have now been published on the website after successfully passing through the public comment phase (refer to pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication for more information on the approval process). |
| 2023-02 | 17/07/2023 | Alpha-cypermethrin in freshwater | Default guideline values (DGVs) for alpha-cypermethrin in freshwater have now been published on the website after successfully passing through the public comment phase (refer to pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication for more information on the approval process). |
| 2023-01 | 17/05/2023 | Pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication | The following three draft-DGVs are now available for public comment:
Public comment period closes Tuesday 17 August 2023. Tables of remaining toxicants have been updated to reflect progress in their development. |
Change log 2022
| Reference no. | Date of change | Page title and address | Description of change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-01 | 16/08/2022 | Weight of Evidence | Updates have been made to the Defining components in the process subpage:
|
Change log 2021
| Reference no. | Date of change | Page title and address | Description of change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-12 | 29/09/2021 | Toxicant default guideline values for protecting aquatic ecosystems | The master table of toxicant default guideline values has been updated to include:
The updated master table is now available for download. |
| 2021-11 | 29/09/2021 | Search for default guideline values | The search tool has been updated to include the revised default guideline values for zinc in marine water. |
| 2021-10 | 29/09/2021 | Zinc in marine water | Default guideline values (DGVs) for zinc in marine water have now been published on the website after successfully passing through the public comment phase (refer to pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication for more information on the approval process). These DGVs replace the former ANZECC & ARMCANZ 2000 guidelines for zinc in marine water |
| 2021-09 | 01/07/2021 | Search for default guideline values | The search tool has been updated to include updates to the following toxicants:
The master table of toxicant default guideline values has also been updated and is available for download. |
| 2021-08 | 01/07/2021 | Metsulfuron-methyl in freshwater | Default guideline values (DGVs) for metsulfuron-methyl in freshwater have now been published on the website after successfully passing through the public comment phase (refer to pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication for more information on the approval process). These DGVs replace the former ANZECC & ARMCANZ 2000 guidelines for metsulfuron-methyl in freshwater |
| 2021-07 | 01/07/2021 | Boron in freshwater | Default guideline values (DGVs) for boron in freshwater have now been published on the website after successfully passing through the public comment phase (refer to pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication for more information on the approval process). These DGVs replace the former ANZECC & ARMCANZ 2000 guidelines for boron in freshwater |
| 2021-06 | 01/07/2021 | Glyphosate in freshwater | Default guideline values (DGVs) for glyphosate in freshwater have now been published on the website after successfully passing through the public comment phase (refer to pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication for more information on the approval process). These DGVs replace the former ANZECC & ARMCANZ 2000 guidelines for glyphosate in freshwater |
| 2021-05 | 01/07/2021 | Glyphosate in marine water | Guidance for the ANZECC & ARMCANZ (2000) default guideline values (DGVs) for glyphosate in marine water has been clarified following the update of DGVs for glyphosate in freshwater. |
| 2021-04 | 03/05/2021 | Pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication | The following six draft-DGVs are now available for public comment:
Public comment period closes Tuesday 3 August 2021. Tables of remaining toxicants have been updated to reflect progress in their development. |
| 2021-03 | 01/04/2021 | IMCRA mesoscale bioregions of Australia | An error was identified with the reported units for the marine chlorophyll a DGVs in the IMCRA database. Units for chlorophyll a were corrected from "moles per litre" (mol/L) to "micrograms per litre" (µg/L). |
| 2021-02 | 22/03/2021 | Toxicant default guideline values for protecting aquatic ecosystems | The master table of toxicant default guideline values (DGVs) is now available for download. The updated excel spreadsheet contains a complete list of data on toxicant DGV’s, consistent with the current database underpinning the DGV search tool. |
| 2021-01 | 22/03/2021 | Protocols for biological assessment | The recommendations of the biological monitoring protocols provided in Volume 2, Appendix 3 of the ANZECC/ARMCANZ (2000) guidelines for fresh and marine water quality have now been updated and published on the Water Quality Guidelines website. Instead of providing detailed protocols, the new guidance advises users to seek the latest relevant methods and protocols for a chosen biological response indicator in the peer-reviewed, international, published literature and also as provided or advised by relevant national, state or territory governments. |
Change log 2020
| Reference no. | Date of change | Page title and address | Description of change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-07 | 19/11/2020 | Metolachlor in freshwater | Default guideline values for Metolachlor in freshwater have now been published on the website after successfully passing through the public comment phase (refer to pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication for more information on the approval process). |
| 2020-06 | 12/10/2020 | Australia - Guidance for Temporary Inland Waters | Guidance on assessing and managing water quality in temporary waters has been published on the website. The new guidance document focusses on how to use the national water quality management framework for assessing water and/or sediment quality of temporary waters. |
| 2020-05 | 29/06/2020 | Pathway for toxicant default guideline value publication | The following eight draft-DGVs were listed on the website for public comment:
Public comment period closes 29 October 2020. |
| 2020-04 | 15/04/2020 | Accounting for local conditions | The salinity effects section was updated to include guidance on using freshwater DGVs for metals that are affected by hardness or other key modifying factors (e.g. pH, DOC, alkalinity), for brackish waters. |
| 2020-03 | 15/04/2020 | Toxicant default guideline values for water quality in aquatic ecosystems | This page has been updated to include general information about guideline values for groundwater and brackish/hypersaline water types. |
| 2020-02 | 15/04/2020 | Application of the Water Quality Guidelines to groundwater | This page was created to provide some general information and guidance on how the Water Quality Guidelines can apply to groundwater. Note: DGVs for groundwater ecosystems have not been developed. |
| 2020-01 | 05/02/2020 | Default Guideline Values | This page has been changed to update the recreation and aesthetics sub-heading as the 2008 NHMRC recreational water quality guidelines superseded any previous guidance and are still current. The revised text reflects this more accurately |
Change log 2019
| Reference no. | Date of change | Page title and address | Description of change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-14 | 23/12/2019 | Accounting for local conditions | These pages has been updated to reflect the need to check for local guidance for deriving and applying site-specific guideline values, and provide additional references and links to guidance on how to derive site-specific guideline values for aquatic ecosystems. |
| 2019-13 | 23/12/2019 | When there is no default guideline value for a toxicant | |
| 2019-12 | 23/12/2019 | Deriving guideline values for water quality | |
| 2019-11 | 27/11/2019 | Accounting for local conditions | |
| 2019-10 | 27/11/2019 | Accounting for local conditions | This page has been updated to clarify the reasoning behind the recommended application of a higher level of species protection default guideline value (DGV) for a bioaccumulating compound. It provides more details on the circumstances under which the above recommendation can be relaxed, updates descriptions of the processes of bioaccumulation and highlights the key the Water Quality Guidelines principle of continual improvement. |
| 2019-09 | 24/09/2019 | IMCRA mesoscale bioregions of Australia | This page has been updated to improve the clarity of the existing guidance on where the phys-chem stressor regional DGVs can be found, and the need to first check whether local jurisdictions have derived GVs for phys-chem stressors, as these will override the regional DGVs. |
| 2019-08 | 24/09/2019 | Australia’s marine regions | This page has been updated to improve the clarity of the existing guidance on where the phys-chem stressor regional DGVs can be found, and the need to first check whether local jurisdictions have derived GVs for phys-chem stressors, as these will override the regional DGVs. |
| 2019-07 | 24/09/2019 | Australia’s inland waters | This page has been updated to improve the clarity of the existing guidance on where the phys-chem stressor regional DGVs can be found, and the need to first check whether local jurisdictions have derived GVs for phys-chem stressors, as these will override the regional DGVs. |
| 2019-06 | 24/09/2019 | Your location | This page has been updated to improve the clarity of the existing guidance on where the phys-chem stressor regional DGVs can be found, and the need to first check whether local jurisdictions have derived GVs for phys-chem stressors, as these will override the regional DGVs. |
| 2019-05 | 11/09/2019 | Toxicant default guideline values for sediment quality | This page has been updated to improve the clarity of the existing guidance. This update DID NOT include any changes to the sediment quality default guideline values. |
| 2019-04 | 10/09/2019 | Manganese in freshwater and marine water | Reported freshwater moderate reliability trigger value (i.e. default guideline value in the ANZ Guidelines (2018), updated to 1900 µg/L. The previously reported value, 1700 µg/L, was identified as an error in the 2000 Guidelines. |
| 2019-03 | 23/07/2019 | Toxicant default guideline values for protecting aquatic ecosystems | Access to DGV master table temporarily removed while it is updated to reflect changes made to DGV database. |
| 2019-02 | 07/2019 | Search for toxicant default guideline values | The database underpinning the search tool for toxicant default guideline values (DGVs) has been reviewed and updated to correct errors and inconsistencies. Refer to the ‘explanatory note’ for information on the contents of the database, including what guideline trigger values have and have not been incorporated from the 2000 Guidelines. |
| 2019-01 | 27/06/2019 | Nitrate in freshwater and marine water | The ANZECC/ARMCANZ (2000) guideline trigger value for nitrate was erroneous and as such, the corresponding content from these 2000 Guidelines has been removed. |
