Nonpoint source pollution monitoring. Program design

This paper describes a computer-aided methodology designed to aid in the determination of water quality and ecological change resulting from nonpoint sources of water pollution. The nonpoint monitoring program design involves the definition of monitoring program objectives to guide data-collection efforts, a choice of levels of detail to apply in carrying out the various steps of the procedure; a watershed analysis to identify locations of the potentially most critical pollutant loadings; the development of a monitoring program to detect and verify statistically the source or sources of a nonpoint pollution problem; and prioritization of monitoring tasks with reference to the program objectives. Spreadsheet software with graphics and FORTRAN programs are used. A case study example on the Stillaguamish River Basin in Washington State is presented.