Representative Groundwater Quality Monitoring network in Austria Austrian experience in implementation of Directive 2000/60/EC requirements Andreas Scheidleder Umweltbundesamt - Austria

Groundwater Quality Monitoring Network in Austria

Legal Background Federal Water Act Hydrography Act Ordinance for Water quality Monitoring Ordinance for Groundwater Threshold Levels

Monitoring and Network Definitions: Austrian ordinance on water quality monitoring A GW-Quality Monitoring Network .... comprises all sampling sites which describe the overall groundwater region in a representative way and which are subject of regular sampling ... WFD – Annex V 2.4.1 GW monitoring network .... The groundwater monitoring network shall be designed so as to provide a coherent and comprehensive overview of GW chemical status ...

Key figures of the monitoring network GW-in Porous media ~ 1800 sites Karst-GW and GW in fractured rock ~ 250 sampling sites sampling as a rule 4x a year costs of analyses and data transfer are met by federal (2/3) and provincial (1/3) authorities costs of selection and establishing sampling sites are met totally by federal authorities costs per year: 2.2 to 2.9 Mio. Euro cyclic procedure – 6 years 1 year extended investigation programme 5 years programme according to the results of year 1 – but minimum programme is ensured

Investigated Parameters The parameters monitored in groundwater are split into three blocks comprising about 100 different parameters:   Block 1: the most important inorganic parameters with relevance to the environment, e.g. nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, phosphate, boron, alkali metal and alkaline earth metal (e.g. potassium, calcium, magnesium) Block 2: the heavy metal group (e.g. arsenic, mercury, cadmium) and lightly volatile halogenated hydrocarbons (e.g. tetrachloroethylene) Block 3: the broad group of pesticide substances (e.g. triazine, phenoxy alkane carbon acids), the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, etc.

Quality assurance Programme Nationwide standardised tendering documents Accredited Laboratories Provision of key figures of the analytical procedures within the bidding files Standardised procedure (guidelines) including sampling methods Laboratory control visits Compulsory participation in sampling courses Compulsory participation in (international) round robin tests Control system in routine work with spiked samples – performed by the Institute for Agrobiotechnology (IFA-Tulln). Minimum requirements for limit of quantification and limit of detection

Data access and use Access to quality data Internet – online queries Biannual reports and other publications Presentations Data provision due to request by interested parties (enquiry by telephone or email) User groups Interested public Scientific institutions Administrative bodies consultants NGO's ...

Karte aus der letzten Präsentation nehmen

Network adaptation Until 2006 adaptation of the existing GW- Quality Monitoring Network according to the new GW-bodies and WFD as far as required. Network to be adapted by end of 2005 Tendering procedure in 2006 Monitoring network operative by Dec 2006

Need of representative network Starting point Risk and status assessment on the basis of existing data. Only possible on the basis of a representative network Well-founded assumption that the current network was designed to be a representative network which was continuously adapted New GW-body delineation Partly considerable deviations from the current delineation GW bodies without sites Checking of representativity Development/Selection of appropriate checking algorithms

Analysis of network representativity 1. STEP – preliminary assessment at Federal Level Groundwater bodies Representativity Index Ru - elaborated in CIS WG 2.8 Groups of groundwater bodies Thiessen polygons 2. STEP – final assessment at Regional Level Local expertise assessing information of Art. 5 Analyses (e.g. hydrogeology etc.)

Groundwater bodies Representativity Index Ru 1. STEP – Preliminary assessment Pre-assumption: hydrogeological homogeneity Representativity Index Ru reflects spatial representativity as a measure of homogeneity Average minimum distance between any location in the area to the closest sampling site expressed as percentage of the average minimum distance for an optimal network Ru = 100 % in an optimal network Elaborated in CIS WG 2.8

Groundwater bodies Representativity Index Ru sites < 3 3 <= sites < 5 5 <= sites < 10 sites >= 10 Ru < 50 %   50 <= Ru < 70 Ru >= 70 % Network representative Network partially representative Network not representative

Groundwater bodies Representativity Index Ru 2. STEP - Final assessment of network If the GW-body is hydrogeologically hetero- geneous the network has to be developed in a hydrogeologically representative way!

Groups of groundwater bodies Thiessen polygons 1. STEP – Preliminary assessment Pre-assumption: hydrogeologically NOT homogenous Thiessen polygons reflecting site density Calculation of Thiessen polygons around each site Average area per aquifer type (porous, karst, fractured) For each site: comparison of polygon area to the average area represented by all sites of an aquifer type.

Groups of groundwater bodies Thiessen polygons Classification Class 1: lower or equal to average Class 2: between average and 2-times average Class 3: between 2-times and 4-times average Class 4: larger than 4 times average area No site Average polygon areas calculated Porous media: 48 km²/site Fractured media: 114 km²/site Karstic media: 99 km²/site

Groups of groundwater bodies Thiessen polygons

Groups of groundwater bodies Thiessen polygons Cl … Class sites < 3 3 <= sites < 5 5 <= sites < 10 sites >= 10 Cl 4 > 0 %   Cl 4 = 0 % Cl 3 > 50 % Cl 4 = 0 % Cl 3 <= 50 % Deviation classes from average Network representative Cl 4 … > 400% Network partially representative Cl 3 … 200-400 Network not representative

Groups of groundwater bodies Thiessen polygons 2. STEP - Final assessment of network Local expertise whether the network reflects the hydrogeological conditions in a representative way!

Network adaptation Local expertise assessing information of Art. 5 Analyses e.g.: GW-flow direction, Point and diffuse sources of pollution, Soil characteristics, Overlying strata Sampling site density and spatial distribution Hydrogeological representativity …

Example: information used for network adaptation Karte aus Ist-Zustandsanalyse einfügen- GW- Schichtenlinien, Einflussfaktoren .... was gut aussieht! Example: information used for network adaptation MEAN DISTANCE TO GW

Example: information used for network adaptation DIFFUSE POLLUTION

Example: information used for network adaptation CORINE LANDCOVER - SITE

Example: information used for network adaptation HYDROLOGY

Schedule Network to be adapted by end of 2005 Tendering procedure in 2006 Monitoring network operative by Dec 2006

Representative Groundwater Quality Monitoring network in Austria Austrian experience in implementation of Directive 2000/60/EC requirements Andreas Scheidleder Umweltbundesamt - Austria