Potentially, every school, environmental or community group in the country could become a monitoring cell, and with this geographical spread use the miniSASS tool as a ‘red flag' for the identification of aquatic pollution sources and events in their immediate environment. The parallel and supporting initiative, to be able to enter this ‘real aquatic biomonitoring data' onto an internet web-based mapping programme (see www.riverhealth.co.za), extends the application of the resource making networking and broad based catchment water quality monitoring a real possibility.
The increased opportunity for communities to become involved, use a scientifically valid tool and undertake real biomonitoring of their river systems is probably the most important aspect of the development of this resource.