Groundwater Monitoring

The monitoring programmes are carried out according to uniform national rules; the legally binding basis for it is the Water Rights Act 1959, as applicable  (“Wasserrechtsgesetz” or “WRG” 1959)  with details in the Ordinance on the Monitoring of the Quality of Water Bodies (“Gewässerzustandsüberwachungsverordnung”, “GZÜV”), Federal Law Gazette No 479/2006 as applicable. With these legal provisions at the same time also the European Water Framework Directive No. 2000/60/EC is implemented.

Basically, there are 3 types of monitoring programmes which pursue different goals:

  1. Surveillance monitoring (Section 59e Water Rights Act)

This monitoring programme provides a coherent and comprehensive overview of the status of Austrian waters and has to be conducted at least in the first year of a 6-year observation cycle. Other objectives are the evaluation of long-term changes in natural conditions and of long-term changes caused by extensive human activities.

For groundwater surveillance monitoring is carried out in all groundwater bodies (136) and includes 2,016 measuring sites per approx. 40 km² of the Austrian national territory.

In this context a fixed, comprehensive set of parameters (e.g. oxygen content, pH-value, water hardness, nitrate, sulphate, arsenic, lead, mercury, CFC, pesticides etc.) has to be measured at least three times.

For current control of groundwater quality this surveillance observation is followed by 5 more monitoring years for repeated observation. For this purpose each groundwater body in the federal territory has to be examined at least once per year, provided no quality problems have occurred.

2. Operational monitoring (Section 59f Water Rights Act)

Operational monitoring is carried out in groundwater bodies if there is a risk of not achieving the good status. The scope of parameters depends on the relevant situation of pollution; a minimum of two measurements annually is provided for by law. In Austria such areas are usually examined four times a year to allow a better observation of the development of accompanying restoration measures.

3. Investigative monitoring (Section 59g Water Rights Act)

This type of monitoring is used on a case-by-case basis and falls within the responsibility of the supervisory water authorities of the Federal Provinces.

What do these monitoring programmes cost?

Already since 1991, thus nine years prior to the entry into force of the EU Water Framework Directive (2000), Austria’s groundwater resources have been examined in a comparable manner all over the country. Meanwhile the database of the Federal Environment Agency comprises more than 8 million individual data on water components from a 20-year period, which describe our groundwater resources and their quality development. Between 1990 and 2010 costs of approximately 54 million euro were incurred; sampling and analytical investigations were subject to public tender.