Step 4: Design Implementation Program and Assemble the Watershed Plan (cont.)

Developing Criteria to Measure Progress Toward Water Quality or Other Goals
As part of your implementation program, you should set some criteria by which you will determine whether you are achieving load reductions over time and making progress toward meeting your overall watershed goals. These criteria can also support an adaptive management approach by providing mechanisms by which to reevaluate implementation plans if you are not making substantial progress toward meeting your watershed goals.

These criteria can be expressed as indicators and associated interim target values. You can use various indicators to help measure progress. You will want to select indicators that will provide quantitative measurements of progress toward meeting the goals and can be easily communicated to various audiences. It is important to remember that these indicators and associated interim targets will serve as a trigger, in that if the criteria indicate that you are not making substantial progress, you should consider changing your implementation approach.