General

Local government undertakes WQM for a diverse range of purposes. However, for any type of program that is being considered or undertaken, the whole exercise is a process which has generic features and principles. For example, a WQM program for a recreational lake and a WQM program for a sewage treatment plant will have some common principles which underpin them, such as those governing the design of sampling and the management of data generated from the programs.

This section of the toolkit sets out the generic features and principles of WQM from the beginning of the process to the end. It allows councils at different stages of the process to enter the toolkit at a level suitable to them.

The diagram below sets out a useful process to follow.