MATCHING WATER QUALITY PROGRAMS TO MANAGEMENT NEEDS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES : THE CHALLENGE OF PROGRAM MODERNIZATION

Developing countries face an array of traditional and modern water quality problems -- from faecal contamination to toxic chemicals. Moreover, they do so in an economic environment that is severely restricted, an institutional environment which is often poorly structured, and for which the modern scientific knowledge base is frequently poorly understood and applied. Agencies in many developing countries recognise this as a major impediment to sustainable development, especially as water quality has become one of the leading economic issues for the purposes of development and investment (Matthews, 1994). Water quality programs tend to suffer from traditional approaches, both of methodology and legal/administrative. The consequence is that many water quality programs are grossly inefficient, produce often unreliable data and which in any case are not generally useful for making management or investment decisions, and face decreasing economic and political support. Program modernization is essential to achieve the twin goals of greater efficiency and greater relevance in meeting data needs for contemporary water quality management purposes. Modernization reduces costs, may reduce the amount of equipment and infrastructure required, often reduces the amount of data collected, and more closely matches the abilities of developing countries where, for example, knowledge of advanced environmental chemistry may be limited but where knowledge of biological systems is strong.