550 



datory reporting system for use by individual industrial and munici- 

 pal facilities themselves. Actual implementation of either method pre- 

 sents equ ally obvious problems, however. The vast expenditure of time 

 and mone^/^ for routine monitoring of every waste outfall in the estua- 

 rine zone is prohibitive. The enforcement of a mandatory reporting 

 system also represents more man-hours and money than are feasible 

 to consider. Yet monitoring is a necessity, so a simple reporting method 

 for all possible studies and existing monitoring systems must be de- 

 vised and the data gathered funneled into a central location for broad- 

 scale analysis. 



The adequacy, or lack thereof, of existing monitoring systems can 

 then be determined and broadened only as absolutely necessary. 



The information needed for routine water quality monitoring as- 

 sociated with pollution surveillance is also needed as basic data input 

 for management and for basic research. An effective routine monitor- 

 ing program should therefore integrate all of these needs to avoid 

 overlapping data collection programs and insure acquiring the broad 

 data base needed to advance scientific knowledge of the estuarine 

 zone. 



A further need related to the advancement of knowledge is basic 

 data on unpolluted and unmodified estuarine systems ; it is the lack of 

 these kinds of data that hampers many present efforts at evaluating 

 the effects of past changes on the environment. 



Present efforts at water quality monitoring in estuarine systems 

 are scattered ; they are primarily a matter of State concern, and have 

 been carried out directly by State agencies or through cooperation with 

 local governments and industries. These efforts should be integrated 

 into a nationwide water quality monitoring program designed to 

 satisfy national as well as local needs. 



Section 2. "Gray" Data 



There is a vast quantity of information which would be extremely 

 useful at all levels of management if it were readily available. This 

 so-called gray data exists, but it requires a special level of effort 

 to secure it and put it in a form/ useful for management purposes. 



These are the kinds of information that are collected by Federal, 

 State, or local agencies as a matter of routine operation and merely 

 filed away when they have served their purpose. For example, routine 

 water quality measurements over shellfish beds, or a beach access toll 

 bridge receipts, or numbers and kinds of Corps of Engineers dredging 

 permits issued, would all provide pertinent information to estuarine 

 management if readily available. 



These kinds of information exist also in unpublished reports on con- 

 tracts designed to satisfy a need. For example, a contractor's report to 

 a State planning board on the need for more parks might never be 

 published but would still contain valuable information to estuarine 

 management if it were readily available. Many unpublished reports 

 and informal technical memorandums will be released for public use if 

 they can be found — but they do not appear in indexes or bibliogra- 

 phies ; special efforts are required to find them. 



A third kind of "gray" data is information that is available from 



