The proposed Freshwater Monitoring Program presented in this report addresses the environmental monitoring goals recently proposed by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. The overall objective for the Nation's freshwater resources is 'Native species should occur in stable, well-balanced populations, and pollution should not limit the values of water as a fisheries, recreation, and raw water resource' (SEPA 1990b). This place two aspects in focus, namely, (1) the biodiversity of freshwater system and (2) water as a resource. In addition, the Freshwater Monitoring program should indicate losses of material from terrestrial ecosystems and the loading of substances, such as nutrients, to marine areas. Indicators relevant to these various aspects have been proposed by the working group. The primary objective was to select biological indicator variables that, as much as possible, directly reflect the quality and usability of water as a resource. In some cases surrogate variable may, however, be used. These may be chemical variables which indirectly reflect biological conditions, when adequate knowledge of the relationship between the measured chemical and biological response variable is known. A number of physico-chemical variables are also needed to support the evaluation of biological data. (88 refs., 5 figs., 21 tabs.) (au).