TRANSBOUNDARY GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT - A LONG TERM RELATIONSHIP FOR THE BETTER FUTURE
EU-WATERRES “EU-integrated management system of crossborder groundwater resources and anthropogenic hazards” project is a collaboration between Poland, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Norway funded by EEA Norwegian Grants
A groundwater spring in Latvia: Kazu leja (grava) springs in transboundary Gauja-Koiva river basin between Estonia and Latvia area (Photo: Zigmunds Kazanovskis, 2018)
EU WATERRES
The project No.2018-1-0137 “EU-WATERRES: EU-integrated management system of crossborder groundwater resources and anthropogenic hazards” benefits from a € 2.447.761 grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation. The aim of the project is to promote coordinated management and integrated protection of transboundary groundwater by creating a geoinformation platform.
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WORKING TOGETHER FOR A GREEN, COMPETITIVE AND INCLUSIVE EUROPE Life cannot exist without water. Groundwater is the invisible resource that has no administrative boundaries or political barriers.
Specific aims for the collaboration are harmonising understanding and vocabulary related to groundwater aquifers. Establishing a common tool for mapping transboundary groundwater resources. Prevent pollution and/or depletion. Providing decision makers with data and knowledge to act upon. Establish transboundary monitoring systems. Develop case studies with comparable monitoring instrumentation and systems; one in Ukraine and three in EU, close to boarder of partner country.
Therefore, transboundary groundwater aquifers are an important issue to address, to safeguard the groundwater quantity and quality that makes life thrive. EU-WaterRes is an acronym for EU-integrated management system of cross-border groundwater resources and anthropogenic hazards. The project is a collaboration between Poland (lead partner), Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, and Norway (Expert partner) funded through the EEA Norwegian Grants Fund for regional co-operation in the period September 2020 to December 2023.
Capacity building, within each county as well as internationally, engaging stakeholders at water authorities, water management, municipalities, research and education, is an important task. Transnational values of this project are shared and integrated; national research infrastructure, methodology and sampling, collected data, and knowledge exchande on EUs transboundary groundwater. The partnership is anchored in geological surveys, which are partners of the EuroGeoSurvey collaboration, and are national institutes of geological knowledge and management.
GROUNDWATER DEPENDENT ECOSYSTEMS - WHERE GROUNDWATER SUPPORTS THE NATURE The aim of the project is to promote coordinated management and integrated protection of transboundary groundwater by creating a geoinformation platform for transboundary groundwater between partnering countries, Poland and Ukraine, Estonia and Latvia in collaboration with Norway.
Focus in the project: Water quality, Environmental Risk Assessment, Conceptual Modelling, Knowledge exchange and capacity building, Stakeholder Analysis & Engagement, Water Framework Directive.
More specifically, this is an integrated GIS modelling environment for the creation of digital hydrogeological maps and simulations of the quantity and quality of transboundary groundwater. As a goal, two cross-border clusters will be created, representing two geographical regions: Baltic and Eastern Europe.
For more information see links: www. Eu-waterres.eu https://www.facebook.com/euwaterres/ @euwaterres Twitter: https://twitter.com/EuWaterres @EuWaterres https://www.researchgate.net/project/EU-WATERRES-EU-integrated-management-system-of-crossborder-groundwater-resources-and-anthropogenic-hazards
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EU WATERRES
Fieldwork in Latvia: Hydrogeologists from University of Latvia carry out experiment of groundwater flow tracing using dyes in Salaspils (Photo: Jānis Bikše, 2016).
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CONTENT
The EU-WaterRes project is a collaboration between Poland, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Norway. Four of our partner countries have joint aquifers across their boarders.
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Polish partners
Latvian partners
Ukraine partners
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Estonia
Norwegian partner
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POLISH PARTNERS
Location of measurement points of the national groundwater monitoring network in Poland.
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POLISH PARTNERS
POLISH GEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE – NATIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE (PGI-NRI) The PGI-NRI, the leading partner, is a public research and development institution fulfilling the tasks of the Polish Geological and Polish Hydrogeological Surveys. The thematic competences of PGI-NRI include its permanent activities: • execution of measurements, surveillance, and hydrogeological testing of over 1180 research locations of the groundwater observation and research network, conducting monitoring of groundwater including the border zones of Poland with respect to the estimation of groundwater flow directions in transboundary area,
• performing ongoing analyses and assessments of current hydrogeological situation including the forecasts of changes in the quantity of resources, the status and threats of groundwater, • numerical modeling and GIS based mapping. Moreover, the Iinstitute conducts comprehensive research on the geological structure of the country, the aim of which is to use the accumulated knowledge in the national economy and environmental protection.
• maintaining and updating hydrogeological and geological databases, • recognizing and documenting Major Groundwater Reservoirs for establishing their protection areas and implementing action plans to prevent their degradation,
The Iinstitute conducts comprehensive research on the geological structure of the country, the aim of which is to use the accumulated knowledge in the national economy and environmental protection.
• coordinating, supervising, and performing numerical hydrogeological and geological maps, • carrying out assessment of groundwater status in terms of their quality and quantity,
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POLISH PARTNERS
Lithogenetic map of Poland.
Map of the main groundwater reservoirs in Poland.
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POLISH PARTNERS
Hydrogeological map of Poland: main useful aquifer.
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POLISH PARTNERS
Measurement points of the national groundwater monitoring network.
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POLISH PARTNERS
Fig. 4
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LATVIAN PARTNERS
LATVIAN ENVIRONMENT, GEOLOGY AND METEOROLOGY CENTRE Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre (LEGMC) is a state limited Liability Company whose task is to collect, maintain, provide and communicate nationwide information on the environment - air, water and earth resources. The main activities of LEGMC are the development of environmental monitoring system, environmental laboratory testing, environmental quality and weather forecast reporting and supervision of subsoil resources. LEGMC represents the Republic of Latvia within various international consortiums - EUMETNET, EuroGeoSurvey, EUMETSAT, ECHA, ECMWF, EEA, WMO. The Hydrogeology Division of LEGMC has extensive experience working on various international projects (e.g., Interreg, LIFE, H2020) related to water and dependent ecosystem management and being a member of the European Groundwater Working Group.
the Harmonization of transboundary groundwater monitoring, which includes assessment of groundwater resources and development of a methodology of harmonized groundwater monitoring in cross-border areas. The LEGMC also participates in developing source data GIS and maps and assessing the impacts of exploitation and pollution on groundwater.
The LEGMC team of hydrogeology specialists work with the development and implementation of a national groundwater monitoring programme according to the EU water policy needs in Latvia, preparation of groundwater status assessment reports, and currently LEGMC have established a transboundary groundwater monitoring programme with Lithuania.
Homepage: https://videscentrs.lvgmc.lv/
The main responsibility of the LEGMC in the EU-WATERRES project is the coordination of WP3,
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LATVIAN PARTNERS
Environmental laboratory testing (Source: LEGMC)
Pictures below: Measuring groundwater levels in monitoring wells at Inčukalns (Source: LEGMC)
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LATVIAN PARTNERS
UNIVERSITY OF LATVIA (UL) University of Latvia (UL) is one of the leading higher education and research institutions in Latvia, and in terms of the total number of students (around 15 000) is the largest in the country. Faculty of Geography and Earth Sciences (FGES) is one of the 13 faculties which prepare future scientists and practitioners in such fields as geography, geology, earth sciences and spatial planning.
The faculty is located in the modern and rapidly growing Academic Centre in Torņkalns, only 15 minutes’ walk from the heart of Riga – the oldtown. The faculty is well known as “geographers mafia” and has a long history of organizing outdoor annual events that are attended by lots of current and past students, as well as lecturers.
The main responsibilities of FGES team in the EU-WATERRES project are organization of internal and external communication (WP2) and creation of cooperation network between project partners and stakeholders (WP6). A significant contribution will be in transboundary groundwater flow assessment (WP3) and development of hydrogeological information for preparation of hydrogeological maps (WP4).
FGES team consists of five young researchers which already has a large experience of being a partner and member in international consortiums (Interreg, LIFE, H2020 projects and COST, The European Groundwater Drought Initiative, EU Groundwater Working Group etc.). The research topics covered by the team but not limited are water resource management in line with EU water policies, hydrochemistry, groundwater droughts modelling, nitrate vulnerability and groundwater dependent ecosystems. The team collaborates on a regular basis with national authorities and strongly supports the implementation of EU water policies with respect to groundwater.
Homepage: https://www.lu.lv/en/
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LATVIAN PARTNERS
Fieldworks at Kazu leja (grava) pilot site located in transboundary Gauja-Koiva river basin between Estonia and Latvia (Photo: Jānis Bikše, 2020)
Installation of projects wells for nitrate monitoring in shallow groundwater during NITRA project (Photo: Jānis Bikše, 2017)
Map showing hillshade of digital elevation model of the Gauja river valley in Latvia (Source: Konrāds Popovs).
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UKRAINE PARTNERS
Water sampling in the Burshtyn Reservoir (Photo: IGGCM)
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UKRAINE PARTNERS
INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGY AND GEOCHEMISTRY OF COMBUSTIBLE MINERALS The Institute of Geology and Geochemistry of Combustible Minerals is a non-profit state institution that is part of the Department of Earth Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
The scientific activity of the Institute covers a wide range of geological sciences: formation of oil and gas fields, thermobarogeochemistry, paleoceanography, geochemistry, hydrogeology, geoecology and development of scientific bases of energy efficient geotechnologies.
tions for the coordinated use and comprehensive protection of transboundary groundwater (WP5). Transboundary anthropogenic groundwater pressures will be assessed and a program to protect transboundary groundwater from pollution and depletion at the EU’s eastern border will be developed. The outcome of this phase will help to achieve an optimal balance between the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive in two areas - firstly, transboundary cooperation and, secondly, the environmental integrity of transboundary groundwater bodies.
The participant of the EU-WATERRES project is the Laboratory of Geoecological Problems of the Department of Geology and Geochemistry of Solid Combustible Minerals, which has extensive experience and significant results in studying aquifers oil and gas fields in Ukraine. Today we have a bank of hydrogeological data of chemical composition of about 3000 groundwater samples of the Carpathian oil and gas province, Transcarpathian oil and gas region and the Volyn-Podillya district, which border to Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.
The research group of the Laboratory of Geoecological Problems provides consultations to public and private institutions on the conditions of formation and migration of formation waters, study of the impact of anthropogenic factors on them and assessment of drinking water quality.
To develop and implement effective water protection measures to reduce the impact of anthropogenic factors, our team studied the ecological and geochemical characteristics of aquifers and surface waters of river basins within the Lviv region, including the Western Bug, Dniester and San rivers with their tributaries.
Homepage: http://iggcm.org.ua/en/home/
In this project, the main responsibility of our team is to coordinate the development phase of solu-
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UKRAINE PARTNERS
Field work with sampling of groundwater (Photo: IGGCM).
Analytical work in laboratory (Photo: IGGCM).
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UKRAINE PARTNERS
GEOLOGICAL MONITORING OF EMERGENCY SITUATIONS ON THE TERRITORY OF THE CHERVONOHRAD GEOLOGICAL-INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT OF THE LVIV-VOLYN COAL BASIN
Map of surface morphology of water-bearing rocks of the Upper Cretaceous aquifer of Lviv region. GEOLOGICAL MONITORING OF EMERGENCY SITUATIONS ON THE TERRITORY OF THE CHERVONOHRAD GEOLOGICAL-INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT OF THE LVIVVOLYN COAL BASIN (Source: IGGCM)
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UKRAINE PARTNERS
Map-scheme of the ecological-geochemical parameters of the Quaternary aquifer of Lviv region. GEOLOGICAL MONITORING OF EMERGENCY SITUATIONS ON THE TERRITORY OF THE CHERVONOHRAD GEOLOGICAL-INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT OF THE LVIVVOLYN COAL BASIN (Source: IGGCM)
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UKRAINE PARTNERS
SE “ZAKHIDUKRGEOLOGIYA” One of the main activities of the enterprise is the State monitoring of groundwater, which includes a system of long-term observations, collection, processing, storage and analysis of information on groundwater status, forecasting its changes and elaboration of recommendations for decision-making. A network of observation wells has been created, through which groundwater levels are measured and water samples are taken for chemical analysis, which is performed by our certified laboratory.
al cooperation network between the countries of EOG, countries of the Baltic Sea Basin and Ukraine. Our company will be establishing mechanisms to familiarize and use in practice the results, products of the Project by potential consumers in Lviv region.
The main tasks of our company in the EUWATERRES Project are as follows. In the framework of WP3 we have the following important tasks. The first is the determination of hydrogeological conditions and assessment of resources of transboundary aquifers, the second is the modernization of the equipment of the investigation stations for quantitative and qualitative chemical monitoring of groundwater, the third is participation in the elaboration of methodology for coordinated groundwater monitoring and principles of interpretation of results. Within the framework of WP4 the enterprise participates in the development of methodology for creating a sole hydrogeological map, elaboration of initial GIS data and hydrogeological maps taking into account the specifics of the hydrogeological structure of the territory of the Lviv segment of the border area. Tasks in the WP5 are the following - participation in determining the range of anthropogenic impacts and assessing the impact of anthropopressure on groundwater, and participation in the elaboration of groundwater protection program. Within the framework of WP6 specialists of the enterprise take part in creation of an institution-
Conducting research in the well
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UKRAINE PARTNERS
Location scheme of observation network wells on the territory of Lviv region on a hydrogeological basis.
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UKRAINE PARTNERS
Map of natural protection of groundwater of Lviv region
Windows of thematic interactive maps for the territory of the Bug basin in GIS MapInfo
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UKRAINE PARTNERS
STATE ENTERPRISE “UKRAINIAN GEOLOGICAL COMPANY” (SE UGC) Hydrogeological research is one of the main activities of the UGC. Our company performs a full range of hydrogeological works, including: • study and mapping of hydrogeological, engineering-geological, ecological and geological conditions, the impact of man-made processes on the quality of water resources;
depletion of resources for cross-border regions Ukraine-Poland (Volyn region). SE UGC has a special mission to hold a final conference with partners and stakeholders. The meeting is scheduled for November 2023 in Kyiv.
• study of groundwater regime and exogenous geological processes; • development of projects and drilling of water production wells. In the WaterRes project, UGC creates a hydrogeological database for the Volyn region, prepares initial hydrogeological GIS data for the construction of hydrogeological maps at a scale of 1: 200 000 and hydrogeological modelling. During Project implementation our enterprise will prepare (collect) data on hotbed of groundwater pollution. This will make possible to predict the amount of pollution and provide an assessment of the susceptibility and vulnerability of groundwater to pollution. Also it will give an opportunity to assess the impact of depression on the status of groundwater pollution and the impact of exploitation on the groundwater pollution in the Ukrainian (Volyn) territory The project involves the development of groundwater protection programs against pollution and
Head office of SE “UGC”
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UKRAINE PARTNERS
Work on groundwater sampling from the well for monitoring
Measurements of the groundwater mirror
Hydrogeological map of the first aquifers from the surface
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ESTONIAN PARTNER
THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ESTONIA (GSE) The Geological Survey of Estonia (GSE) is a state agency responsible for the activities in geology and hydrogeology in Estonia and it operates under the governance of the Minister of Economy. The main aim of the GSE is to provide high-quality information to other state agencies, local authorities and businesses for environmental research, the planning processes, and the management of mineral resources in Estonia. The main activities and competences of the GSE are geological mapping, marine geological surveys, mineral resources surveys, hydrogeology and geophysical research, and environmental research. The GSE is also responsible for compiling, updating and management of geology and hydrogeology databases, the storage of drill cores and rock samples and conducts the seismic, groundwater, and seacoast surveillance. The GSE of Estonia has experienced trainers in the use of GIS tools, creation of databases and hydrogeological modelling and provides to the project the most accurate data of the hydrogeological conditions of Estonia.
from webGIS and dedicated GIS tools for modelling and creating digital hydrogeological maps and simulations of the quantity and quality of transboundary groundwater. The GSE is also responsible for participation in different tasks of the project concerning transboundary groundwater resources and unification of hydrogeological terms, databases, maps, and groundwater monitoring.
The GSE is responsible for coordinating the implementation of WP4, the Reinforcement of the integrated use of data, which focuses on increasing the ability to manage transboundary groundwater resources by creating a common internet platform for the exchange of knowledge and data
Using Flowtracker to measure river’s discharge (Photo: Andres Marandi).
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ESTONIAN PARTNER Taking a groundwater sample (Photo: Magdaleena Männik).
Estonian hydrogeological map and the EE-LV pilot area. (Source: GSE).
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NORWEGIAN PARTNER
THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NORWAY (NGU) The Geological Survey of Norway (NGU) is the national institution for Geology and is a research-based government agency under Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries. NGU actively contributes to collect, process, and disseminate knowledge and information about the physical, chemical and mineralogical properties of the country’s bedrock, surficial deposits, and groundwater. NGU will endeavour to using geological knowledge towards achieving an efficient and sustainable management of Norway’s natural resources and its environment, with priority to their users’ need in all deliveries.
baseline values for a national wide groundwater monitoring programme (LGN) that focuses on natural background groundwater quality with no or few impacts from human activities. NGU is represented in Norway’s national coordination and implementation group (a Committee of Directorates) for WFD chaired by the Norwegian Environmental Agency. In collaboration with the Norwegian Environmental Agency, as well as the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO), NGU is also mapping and monitoring selected groundwater bodies in Norway, that are potentially at risk by urban development or agricultural activities.
In Norway only 13% of the drinking water comes from groundwater, mainly for private dwellings and leisure properties. An increase use of groundwater is shallow thermal heating and cooling, energy. Anthropogenic pollution is a hazard to all water bodies. NGU is the national expert on geochemistry of soil, minerals and water. The Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires European countries to document the quality of their water resources at a detailed scale and report results to the European Environment Agency. Although NGU does not have a formal role in Norway’s pursuit of WFD, the Survey contributes to the effort through its management of the national groundwater database GRANADA that contains important geological information that can be used to categorize and classify groundwater.
In addition to NGUs long history of mapping and monitoring groundwater in Norway we also have a long history of conducting cross border surveys at a Nordic as well as a European scale. These surveys have often been multimedia surveys. NGU has for instance had joint field campaigns together with the Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU), in order to receive coherent data sets along the border. NGU will contribute in the project to enhance cooperation and improve mutual knowledge and understanding between donor and beneficiary countries.
In collaboration with the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), NGU also conducts reference monitoring of groundwater to establish both quantitative and qualitative
For more info: www.ngu.no
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NORWEGIAN PARTNER
Groundwater monitoring and sampling in Norway (Photo: Anna Seither, 2019)
The Groundwater database for Norway is accessible online at: https://geo.ngu.no/kart/granada_mobil/
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EU WATERRES
“Raised awarness of groundwater resources protection by targeted actions” The aim of the project is to promote coordinated management and integrated protection of transboundary groundwater by creating a geoinformation platform for transboundary groundwaterbetween partnering countries, Poland and Ukraine, Estonia and Latvia in collaboration with Norway.
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EU WATERRES
http://eu-waterres.eu/
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For more information: www. Eu-waterres.eu https://twitter.com/EuWaterres