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INTERNATIONAL WATER DATABASES

Topic report 16/96

S.J. France, C. Marcuello, S.J. Ashley, S.C. Nixon and T. Lack

European Topic Centre on Inland Waters

November 1996

This report was prepared under the supervision of N. Thyssen, Project Manager,
European Environment Agency

Download the report as PDF File

This report catalogues and summarises the data contained within databases associated with international water monitoring programmes which are relevant to the European Environment Agency's needs. Information is provided on each of the data sources together with the type of data included, countries and water bodies covered and the determinands measured.

The monitoring programmes recorded in the meta-database fall into three broad categories:

those produced from monitoring schemes derived to support EC legislation;
those related to international conventions based in Europe; and
those derived from international organisations based outside Europe such as the UN Global Environment Monitoring System (GEMS/WATER).

A searchable electronic meta-database of the identified international databases that allows rapid identification of geographical areas, determinands measured and temporal coverage of the data to complement this report will be made available through the EEA's Catalogue of Data Sources (CDS).

Table of contents
Executive Summary
1. Introduction
2. The Metadatabase 2.1. Metadatabase Structure 2.2. Scope of Metadatabase
3. Geographical And Temporal Coverage 3.1. Geographical Coverage 3.2. Temporal Coverage Per Country
4. Summary of Information on Different Water Types 4.1. Sampling Sites for Each Country 4.2. Rivers 4.3. Lakes 4.4. Estuaries 4.5. Coastal Waters 4.6. Groundwater
5. Summary of Information on Determinands 5.1. Determinands Assessed by Monitoring Programme 5.2. Statistics Used 5.3. Units
6. Platforms
7. National Monitoring Databases
8. References
Appendix A. List of Databases or Monitoring Programmes Reviewed List of Contact Organisations
Appendix B. Summary of Number of Sites Sampled in Monitoring Programmes
Appendix C. List of Determinands Assessed by Each Monitoring Programme
Appendix D. Determinands Measured, Number of Sites and Starting Year Per Monitoring Programme For Different Water Types and Matrices

Executive Summary

This report catalogues and summarises the data contained within databases associated with international monitoring programmes which are relevant to the EEAs needs. Information is provided on each of the data sources together with the type of data included, countries and water bodies covered and the determinands measured. This report is only able to portray the information within the metadatabase using a few relatively simple examples. The main output from this project is a searchable electronic database of the identified international databases that allows rapid identification of geographical areas, determinands measured and temporal coverage of the data.

The monitoring programmes recorded in the metadatabase fall into three broad categories:

those produced from monitoring schemes derived to support EC legislation;
those related to international conventions based in Europe; and
those derived from international conventions based outside Europe such as the UNEP/WHO/UNESCO/WMO project on global water quality monitoring (GEMS/WATER).

Four different sources of information have been used to compile the metadatabase:

data relating to international conventions agreed between the EEA countries, obtained from the database developed in the project MW1 (Requirements for Water Monitoring);
published reports and other literature relating to different monitoring programmes, including Paris and Oslo Commission reports, Helsinki Commission reports, the Dobris Assessment, UNEP publications, etc.; and
information available on the Internet.

Data obtained from these sources were augmented by distribution of a questionnaire to key organisations.

It is intended that the report and the database will be a source of information to be used alongside other reports and inventories produced by the Inland Waters Topic Centre. These include a review of the international monitoring requirements for monitoring surface and groundwaters, and inventories of EEA Member States monitoring networks; surface water quality and quantity networks, and groundwater quality and quantity monitoring networks. The information contained in these reports will be used when implementing the freshwater monitoring network designed for the EEA area. Contacts for each of the databases recorded and summarised in this report will be available through the EEAs Catalogue of Data Sources (CDS). The CDS is available to all National Focal Points and forms part of the EIONET. The CDS is also scheduled to be made more widely available (for example, to members of the public) through the World Wide Web during 1997.

Any enquiries relating to this report should be referred to the authors at the following address:

WRc Medmenham,
Henley Road, Medmenham,
Marlow, Bucks,
SL7 2HD,
United Kingdom.

Telephone: (+ 44 1491) 571531.

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