MEASURING SUCCESS IN WATER-POLLUTION CONTROL

Ambient water quality is much used to show progress in water pollution control. The state of the environment is not easy to measure reliably and may be subject to very many factors other than the impact of poll uting discharges and those who seek to control them. Even measured tre nds in water quality do not prove that the pollution control activity is being managed to the best standards of efficiency and effectiveness . So managers may have great difficulty in measuring their success or in correctly attributing change in the environment to their action. On the other hand, owners of pollution control systems, both public and private, make little allowance for scientific scruples in their demand s for objective measures of effectiveness. The paper examines the theo ry behind these contradictions and uses the recent development of perf ormance indicators for environmental management in Hong Kong to consid er how theory and practice differ. It concludes that effectiveness is relative, but pollution control managers can help themselves if they i ntegrate into their organizations a constant alertness to fundamental goals. Copyright (C) 1996 IAWQ.