Some basic considerations in the design of hydrologic data networks

Two preeminent considerations of data network design are the random nature of the hydrologic phenomena and the uses that will be made of the data. Information distilled from the data is usually measured in a parametric statistical sense, although the data user is more concerned with the integrated measure of information - what impact does the lack of perfect hydrologic information have on the ensuing decisions? Two facets of the network, the efficiency of the data collection and the effectiveness of the resulting information, must be integrated to achieve a complete network design.