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0860 Notes Hydrosalinity Sampling and Sample Handling , The primary difficulty in any water-quality monitoring program is recovering a sample which is representative of the condition in a stream channel or aquifer. A great deal of research has been conducted to test procedures for ob- taining representative samples, Much of this work is sum- marized in publications such as the National Handbook of Recommended Methods for Water-Data Acquisition (V.S, Geological Survey, 1977) and the Handbook for Sampling and Sample Preservation of Water and Wastewater (V,S. En- vironmental Protection Agency, 1982). The U.S. Geologi- cal Survey Handbook is a particularly good reference for developing a monitoring program, Excellent references for ground-water studies have been prepared by the Il- linois State Water Survey (Gibb and others, 1981), the V,S, Environmental Protection Agency (ScaH and others, 1981), and the V,S. Geological Survey (Claassen, 1982). Measurement of streamflow, which is a necessary part of surface-water quality monitoring, is described in another , V.S. Geological Survey report (Rantz and others, 1982). The following text summarizes recommendations from these publications that are pertinent to salinity monitoring, The publications themselves should be referred, to for detailed methodologies. In general, sampling methods recommended in the hand- books are the most rigorous required to ensure the in- tegrity of sample data. Because of this, many of the proce- dures are time-consuming. In some cases, less rigorous ' and therefore faster procedures may produce nearly the same degree of accuracy, However, it is the responsibility of the individual project investigator or study team to prove this for a given monitoring program. Data collec- tion should always be established so the most rigorous ap- , plicable procedures can be used. Then, if less rigorous 26 27