INTEGRATING TOOLS FOR SURFACE WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT - Integrating GIS, Remote Sensing, and Mathematical Modelling for Surface Water Quality Management - page 67

monitoring program to support the management plans. In developing countries, responsible
organizations for managing water quality acknowledge that they have collected many data, but are
unable to answer the basic questions of those related to pollution and water quality issues in a reliable
and effective way.
As a consequence, in many countries, data gathering programmes are considered expendable, and are
being reduced or even eliminated because there is no clear view of the information product and of the
cost-efficiency of monitoring (Ward et al., 1986; Ongley, 1995; Ward, 1995a). In recent years there
has been an increasing consensus of opinion that information is meant for action, decision-making and
use. Data that do not lead to management action, or for which a use cannot be stated explicitly, are
being labelled increasingly as "not needed" (Adriaanse et al., 1995). The next chapter will cover the
details of the proposed and developed water quality management information system for agricultural
irrigated watershed in data scarce environment.
3.5.1. Information Needs for Management Information Systems Users
Information needs are focused on the three core elements in water management and water pollution
control, namely; the functions and use of water bodies , the actual problems and threats for future
functioning , and the measures undertaken (with their intended responses) to benefit the functions and
uses ( Figure 3-5 ) . As mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, monitoring is the principle activity
that meets information needs for water pollution control. Models and decision support systems, which
are often used in combination with monitoring, are also useful information tools to support decision
making.
Figure (3-5): Core elements in water management and water pollution control
Once objectives have been set it is important to identify the information that is needed to support the
specified objective. The content and level of detail of the information required depends upon the phase
of the policy life cycle. In the first phase, research and surveys may identify priority pollution
problems and the elements of the ecosystem that are appropriate indicators. Policies will be
implemented for these. In the second and third phases, feedback on the effectiveness of the measures
taken is obtained by assessing spatial distributions and temporal trends through detailed analysis and
application of tools such as modeling. Contaminants may endanger human health by affecting aquatic
resources, such as drinking water, and therefore specific monitoring programmes may be initiated to
check, on a regular basis, the suitability of such resources. Legislation may also prescribe
measurements required for certain decision-making processes, such as the disposal of contaminated
dredged material. In the last phase, monitoring may be continued, although with a different design, to
verify that control is maintained. The associated information needs change with the respective policy
phases (Cofino, 1995). Decision-makers have to decide upon the contents and performance of their
desired information products. They are the main users of the information (for management and control
action) and they have to account for their activities to the public. Specification of information needs is
a challenging task which requires that the decision-making processes of information users are