An Introduction to the Special Volume on the Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality

Volume seven of the Australasian Journal of Ecotoxicology is a special volume devoted to the new Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality (ANZECC and ARMCANZ, 2000) (hereafter, referred to as the WQGs) and in particular, to the important advances in the water quality guidelines for protection of aquatic ecosystems. The devotion of an entire volume is appropriate because the WQGs are probably the major advance for ecotoxicology in Australasia in the last five years. They have been internationally recognised as the next generation of water quality guidelines (Chapman, P. pers. comm.) and the USA, Canada, The Netherlands and the OECD have expressed a great deal of interest in them.