In designing automatic water quality monitoring networks for a river basin, determination of measurement locations and items is critical to the effectiveness of the total system. In this paper we studied how to decide these two design factors when a monitoring network is designed for the purposse of water quality surveillance and emergency alarm. For measurement locations, candidate sites are chosen based on the intake amount for water supply and the point sources of contamination. Then, detailed locations are decided according to the contaminant flow distance. As for measurement items, characteristics and the accident history of water pollution in the basin must be taken into account. Considering economic aspects, we proposed a two-stage measurement plan: basic components for all locations and selective ones variable for different locations. Proposed methodology is demonstrated through a case study for Nak-dong River Basin.