INNOVATIVE DESIGNS FOR WATER QUALITY MONITORING: ARE WE ASKING THE QUESTIONS BEFORE THE DATA ARE COLLECTED?

Water quality management consists of decisions about the environment; those decisions are usually based on data from monitoring programs. We propose the application of a systematic process called the Environmental Audit as a tool for guiding management decision making and for design of monitoring programs. Application of the Audit is shown to produce data which leads directly to real environmental information (in contrast to pure data). Such information is translated into management decisions which incorporate all elements of the broader definitions of environmental risk.