Developing environment-specific water quality guidelines for suspended particulate matter

It is generally well recognised that suspended particulate matter (SPM), from nano-scale particles to sand-sized sediments, can cause serious degradation of aquatic ecosystems. However, at present there is a poor understanding of the SPM conditions that water quality managers should aim to achieve in contrasting environments in order to support good ecological status. In this article, we analyse long-term SPM data collected from a wide range of...