Framework Partnership with European Topic Centre on Inland, Coastal and Marine Waters (ETC/ICM)
Country / Region: Europe
Begin of project: January 1, 2007
End of project: December 31, 2013
Status of project: December 31, 2013
Map of groundwater bodies in Europe
Starting in 2007, the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) has participated in the European Topic Centre (ETC) on Water Consortium, contracted by the European Environment Agency (EEA). In 2011, BGR joined the successor organisation European Topic Centre on Inland, Coastal and Marine waters (ETC/ICM), consisting of 18 European institutions and companies led by the Czech Environmental Information Agency (CENIA).
The six ETCs form a part of the European Environment Information and Observation Network (EIONET). These centers are important instruments for monitoring the environment in the EEA member states, creating an international database, and evaluating the current and future state of the environment.
Freshwater Team Meeting in Copenhagen
The ETC/ICM supports the European Environment Agency (EEA) with data handling, indicator development, and thematic assessments concerning freshwater, marine, and maritime issues. A main target is the implementation of a seamless environmental information system in order to support policy-makers.
Amongst other topics the ETC/ICM contributes to the:
- European Water Data Centre including Water Framework Directive (WFD) data flow,
- Water Information System for Europe (WISE), and
- Status of European Waters report 2012.
BGR is engaged in several tasks of the ETC/ICM concerning groundwater issues. The main activity is the compilation of a groundwater body (GWB) reference layer, which closely relates to the WFD. In article 2 of the WFD, a GWB is defined as a distinct volume of groundwater within an aquifer or aquifers, and it forms the principal groundwater management unit under the WFD. Unlike river catchments and surface water bodies, the groundwater bodies are arranged in a three-dimensional space by allocating them to several horizons, which are vertically overlying each other.
Groundwater viewer
In 2010, BGR collated the most recently available GWB data of the EU member states and compiled a first GWB GIS layer consisting of separate shapes for each horizon. Updates of the GWB GIS layer are carried out occasionally depending on the amount of actualized data.
The WISE groundwater body maps (WFD Groundwater Viewer) graphically present these spatial GWB data combined with basic information about quantitative and qualitative status. Since April 2013 WISE offers as well a public download in a shape format of the latest version of the GWB GIS layer dating from June 2012. Due to licensing issues the spatial data of British GWBs are not released to public download, but are restricted to an EEA internal version.
Please follow the links below:
- Spatial data: http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/wise-groundwater
- Metadata: http://sdi.eea.europa.eu/catalogue/srv/eng/search?hl=en&extent=-12,3,37,72
Yet the quality of actual GWB GIS data is not sufficient for producing a coherent reference layer. This situation was analysed by BGR and the main issues are presented in a report (see below).
Other activities of BGR in assisting the ETC/ICM include contributions in the areas of climate change impact and water balance accounts.
Literature: