Strategy for Improving Water-Quality Monitoring in the United States

The Intergovernmental Task Force on Monitoring Water Quality (ITFM) prepared this report in collaboration with representatives of all levels of government and the private sector. The report recommends a strategy for nationwide water-quality monitoring and technical monitoring improvements to support sound water-quality decision-making at all levels of government and in the private sector. Within the nationwide strategy, individual monitoring programs would pursue their own goals and activities, and they would be better able to use information from other sources to support their specific needs. Also, users with responsibilities that cross jurisdictions would be better able to aggregate information from other sources to improve coverage for larger areas.