Module 2: Water Budget, Pressures and
Impacts, Significant Water Management Issues,
Monitoring, Characterization Report
Groundwater Monitoring
Kaan Tunçok
Antalya, 2015
Groundwater Resources
 Millions
 100’s
of m3 pumped every year:
Monitored? Who? How?
of thousands of users:
Registered? Controlled?
Registered? Maintained? Info. about
location, abstraction levels, water levels, water quality, formation, etc -
 10’s
of thousands of wells/boreholes:
 1000’s
of sources of pollution:
Location, nature & quantity of
pollutants? aquifer vulnerability?
 Many
governing departments/institutions:
Coordination / cooperation?
Joint management ?
One way to make groundwater
visible...
 by
MONITORING it, e.g: Monitoring groundwater level shows a
declining water table – which allows water managers to obtain an
appreciation of the status of the resource.
Year-wise depletion of groundwater
One way to make grdwater
visible...(contd.)
Some Consequences of GW abstraction
When pumping is
further increased
Excessive
pumping
Normal consequences
of
any groundwater
pumping
Types of data for Groundwater Management
DATA TYPE
Groundwater
Occurrence &
Aquifer
Properties
BASELINE DATA (from archives)
Supporting
Information
field stations)
grdwater level
 hydrogeologic
logs, grdwater
monitoring
levels, quality, etc.
 grdwater quality
 well & aquifer pumping tests
monitoring

 water
Groundwater
use
TIME-VARIANT DATA (from
well pump installations
 Water use inventories
 Population registers & forecasts
 Irrigation energy consumption



climatic data
land-use inventories
geologic maps/sections
water well abstraction
monitoring (direct/indirect)
 grdwater level
variations

 riverflow gauging
 meteorologic
observations
 satellite land-use
surveys
The Monitoring Cycle
Mgt question &
monitoring objectives,
e.g. trends & changes,
impacts & risks, etc.
Mgt of info. & actions
Define actual info.
needed, what for,
wherefrom..? etc.
static & dynamic water
levels, water quality
Effectiveness of groundwater monitoring
....is improved by careful attention to:
network design
 system implementation
 data interpretation
 data storage from past monitoring activities
 accessibility of monitoring stations...
 participatory monitoring amongst water users

Historic data reveals over-abstraction..
Monitoring data
Early warning of potential threats to
Aquifer + Grdwater supply quality
Many cities have experienced rapid growth of urban & industrial waste disposal to the
ground....
Early warning of potential threats to
Aquifer + Grdwater supply quality
.....thus, necessitating a focused groundwater quality
management monitoring, using sampling piezometers.
Basic rules for a successful groundwater
monitoring programme
 objectives
Network
Network
Design
Design
must be defined and program adapted accordingly

systemand
must
be understood
 groundwater
objectives must flow
be defined
program
adapted accordingly

locations
andmust
monitoring
parameters must be selected
 sampling
groundwater
flow system
be understood
to objectives
 according
sampling locations
and monitoring parameters must be selected by
objectives

appropriately-constructed
observation
+ abstraction
 appropriately-constructed
observation
+ abstraction
wellswells
must must
be
System
System
implementation
implementation
be used
used
 field equipment + laboratory facilities must be appropriate to
 field equipment + laboratory facilities must be appropriate to the
the objectives
objectives
 a complete operational protocol + data handling system must
 a complete operational protocol + data handling system must be
be established
established
 groundwater + surface water monitoring should be integrated
 groundwater + surface water monitoring should be integrated where
where applicable
applicable
 data
DataData
interpretation
interpretation
quality
be regularly
checked through
through internal
internaland
and
quality must
must be
regularly checked
external
controls
external controls

makers
be with
provided
withmanagementinterpreted
 decision
decision makers
shouldshould
be provided
interpreted
management-relevant
datasets
relevant datasets

shouldbebeperiodically
periodically
evaluated
reviewed
 program
program should
evaluated
andand
reviewed
Design of groundwater monitoring
programmes
Monitoring Guidance for GW-GD 15
5 QUANTITY MONITORING
5.1.1 Monitoring parameters
5.1.2
SelectionSTATUS
of monitoring
density MONITORING
4 CHEMICAL
AND TREND
Monitoring
frequency
35.1.3
GENERAL
PRINCIPLES
4.1 DESIGN OF THE SURVEILLANCE MONITORING PROGRAMME
4.1.1 Selection of surveillance monitoring determinands
6.1
DRINKING
WATER
PROTECTED
AREA MONITORING
4.1.2
Selection
of representative
surveillance
monitoring sites
3.2
AQUIFER
TYPES
4.1.3 Monitoring frequency
7 PREVENT AND LIMIT MONITORING
3.3 GROUPING OF GROUNDWATER BODIES
3.1
CONCEPTUAL AREA
MODELS
AS BASIS FOR MONITORING
6 PROTECTED
MONITORING
4.2 DESIGN OF THE OPERATIONAL MONITORING PROGRAMME
8
ENSURING
OF MONITORING
DATA
3.4
INTEGRATED
MONITORING
4.2.1
SelectionQUALITY
of
operational
monitoring determinands
8.1
QUALITY
4.2.2
SelectionREQUIREMENTS
of representative operational monitoring sites
3.5
NETWORK
REVIEW
AND UPDATE
8.2
QUALITY
CONTROL
4.2.3 Monitoring frequency
9 METHODS FOR SAMPLING AND ANALYSIS
10 REPORTING
Monitoring Programme Design
 Article 5 characterisation and risk assessment procedure and conceptual
model/understanding of GW




establish monitoring network representative for groundwater body
focus on phenomena affecting overall state of groundwater body.
Local scale pollution processes: target of different monitoring activities by authorities
local impacts not relevant unless evolution in t and x endangers environmental objectives
 Consider three-dimensional nature of GW system, spatial and temporal variability, to
determine location of monitoring sites and selection of appropriate site density




existing quality and/or quantity data (length, frequency, range of parameters)
construction characteristics of existing sites and abstraction regime
spatial distribution of existing sites compared to the scale of groundwater body
practical considerations relating to long-term access, security, health and safety.
 Appropriate monitoring site types: understanding of objectives of monitoring and
understanding of travel times and/or groundwater ages
 Integrated monitoring: cost-efficient monitoring by using appropriate components of
existing monitoring networks and operating integrated groundwater and surface
networks
Conceptual models as basis for monitoring
 regional conceptual model – an understanding of the factors at
groundwater body scale that identifies the need to establish a monitoring
network/point and how the data will be used;
 local conceptual model – an understanding of the local factors
influencing the behaviour, both in chemical and quantitative terms, of
individual monitoring points.
Conceptual Model-Basis for Monitoring
Overview of monitoring objectives
1)
2)
Results will support characterisation in future RBMP cycles
Assumes new Groundwater Directive will require DWPA objectives to meet good status
What parameters and quality
elements should be monitored?
Groundwater quantitative status
 Most appropriate parameters to monitor quantitative status will depend
on conceptual model/understanding of the groundwater system.
 spring flows or even base-flows in rivers may be more appropriate than
the use of boreholes in low permeability fractured media
 where the risks of failing to achieve good quantitative status are low and
information from the surface water monitoring network can adequately
validate this assessment.
Groundwater chemical status and trends
 Where surveillance monitoring is required, the Directive requires that a
core set of parameters be monitored. These parameters are oxygen
content, pH value, conductivity, nitrate and ammonium.
 Other monitored parameters for both surveillance and operational
monitoring must be selected on the basis of
(a) the purpose of the monitoring programme,
(b) the identified pressures and
(c) the risk assessments made using a suitable conceptual
model/understanding of the groundwater system and the fate and
behaviour of pollutants in it.
How often should monitoring be
undertaken?
Groundwater quantitative status
 Most appropriate monitoring frequency will depend on conceptual
model/understanding of the groundwater system and the nature of the
pressures on the system.
 Frequency chosen should allow short-term and long-term level
variations within the groundwater body to be detected.
 Where monitoring is designed to pick up seasonal or annual variations,
the timing of monitoring should be standardised from year to year.
Groundwater chemical status
 Guidance documents provide examples of frequencies that Member States
have found appropriate in a number of hydrogeological circumstances and
in relation to different pollutant behaviours.
 No minimum duration for groundwater chemical status surveillance
programme is specified.
 Surveillance monitoring is only specified in the Directive for bodies at risk or
which cross a boundary between Member States.
 However, to adequately supplement and validate Annex II risk assessment
procedure, validation monitoring will also be needed for bodies, or groups of
bodies, not identified as being at risk.
Methodologies applied for the establishment of
threshold values
Methodologies applied for the establishment
of threshold values
 126 groundwater threshold values established at Member State level
 79 at Groundwater body level
 Germany and Belgium established on administrative level (region), an
additional level to GWD Article 3.2.
 15 Member States established all their threshold values at the same level,
 9 Member States established their threshold values at different levels.
 Most Member States procedure for threshold values considered:
 both protection of associated aquatic and dependent terrestrial ecosystems (15)
 uses and functions of groundwater – mainly drinking water use (23)
 4 Member States took regard of saltwater intrusion, where this problem
was relevant.
Methodologies applied for the establishment
of threshold values
 15 Member States based on environmental quality objectives international or national (e.g. EQS Directive 2008/105/EC)
 Drinking water standards as basis of threshold values, EU Drinking
Water Directive (98/83/EC7) or international (e.g. WHO)
 4 Member States mentioned Directive 2008/105/EC6 for establishing
environmental quality standards.
 2 Member States did not consider environmental objectives due to no
risk or non-substantial impact;
 2 other Member States this is due to limited knowledge about
groundwater-surface water interactions.
 1 Member State reported on transboundary cooperation within the
establishment of threshold values.
Pollutants/indicators for which at least 10 Member States have
established threshold values, including the range of threshold values
5 Member States reported more stringent threshold values for nitrates
than groundwater quality standard (Annex I.1 GWD (50 mg/l))
Range from 18 mg/l to 50 mg/l –
6 Member States - threshold values for 36 different active substances in
pesticides, below the quality standard of 0.1 μg/l. (0.0001 μg/l to 0.1 μg/l)
1 Member State reported a stricter threshold value (0.375 μg/l) than
in GWD for total pesticides (0,5 μg/l).
20 Member States established threshold values in total for 106 substances
which do not belong to the Annex I (nitrates and pesticides) and II
substances of the GWD.
62 belong to the group of synthetic substances.
Pollutants posing risk to more than 100 groundwater bodies or
causing poor status to more than 50 groundwater bodies in Europe