2. Steps in Designing the Network

2. STEPS IN DESIGNING THE NETWORK

As already indicated above the work programme for 1995 was structured to produce a freshwater monitoring network through a series of complimentary and sequential projects and tasks. In summary these were:

1. MW1: Description of the water resource monitoring requirements associated with EC legislation and policy, and International Agreements.
2. MW2: Creating inventories of the current national monitoring programmes for water quality and quantity, surface and groundwater.
3. MW3: Design of the freshwater monitoring network by:

• Defining the information needs of the Agency and hence the terms of reference for the network;
• Defining the need for different types of monitoring station;
• Consideration of the selection of sampling sites, sampling frequency and determinants, and the requirements for summary statistics, performance criteria and quality assurance
• Assessment of the representativeness of current national and international monitoring programmes;
• Identification of gaps in current monitoring programmes;

There is clear overlap with the work associated with this project and that being undertaken by other Topic Centres, for example that on ‘Catalogue of Data Sources’ and on ‘Land Cover’. Because of this, aspects of the monitoring and reporting network have not been finalised awaiting the recommendations of these other Topic Centres.