Highly effective environmental monitoring programs typically exhibit the following seven habits:

1. Clear Objectives: Establish clear and measurable objectives for the monitoring program, defining what needs to be monitored, why, and how the data will be used to inform decision-making.

2. Comprehensive Risk Assessment: Conduct a thorough risk assessment to identify potential environmental hazards and prioritize monitoring efforts based on the level of risk.

3. Regular Monitoring: Implement a regular monitoring schedule to track environmental parameters consistently over time, ensuring early detection of changes or trends.

4. Quality Assurance and Control: Maintain rigorous quality assurance and control measures to ensure the accuracy, reliability, and consistency of monitoring data. This includes calibration of equipment, validation of methods, and adherence to standard operating procedures.

5. Data Management: Establish robust data management systems to efficiently collect, store, analyze, and report monitoring data. Utilize appropriate software and technologies to facilitate data management and interpretation.

6. Stakeholder Engagement: Engage stakeholders, including regulators, communities, and industry partners, throughout the monitoring process to foster transparency, collaboration, and accountability. Solicit feedback and incorporate stakeholder input into decision-making.

7. Adaptability and Continuous Improvement: Remain flexible and adaptive to changing environmental conditions, emerging threats, and advancements in monitoring technology. Continuously evaluate the effectiveness of the monitoring program and implement improvements based on lessons learned and best practices.

Dear HErbert

Regarding the habits in environmental monitoring, I was the leader of teams of environmental site assessment of three industrial site. all over Iraq. First: the work requires a team of at least 4 persons because it involves Photography of the polluted locations within the site, GPS to help later review or resampling efforts, Sampling from each polluted locations at various depths, employing specialist to dig monitoring wells to ensure the extent to which pollutants penetration in soil of adjacent locations, and sampling of tap water from neighbor residence to check the effect on water supplies. Some other later activities will follow to complete the assessment process...... Regards

Miloud Chakit gives an excellent answer. I will add one objective from long experience with environmental monitoring programs: they must be sustainable over long periods of time, even indefinitely. The implication is that they must be efficient and minimize costs so that they are sustainable even with unstable or uncertain funding.