1. Assessment of Transboundary Groundwaters in South Eastern Europe
John Chilton
British Geological Survey
WGMA, Helsinki, June 2007
Agenda Item 4 (a)
UN/ECE
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes
Working Group on Monitoring and Assessment
Core Group on Transboundary Groundwaters

2. Inventory of transboundary aquifers
location, extent and type
uses, problems, pollution sources
status and trends
monitoring activities
legal and institutional aspects
bilateral agreements
This was a hard task and was led by Hungary
1997, led by Zsuzsa

3. Inventory of Transboundary GroundwatersIS
Legend :
Country which responded to inventory
transboundary aquifer indicated by one
transboundary aquifer indicated by both SE RU FI NO EE IE DK LV GB LT RU NL BY BE DE PL KZ LU CZ SK UA FR CH AT HU MD SI
This was based on the responses to the questionnaire in , and is not therefore complete PT HR RO ES IT BA YU GE AZ BG AM MK AL GR TR

4. Assessments - groundwater
Selective approach for groundwater:
the Balkan region – led by BGS (John Chilton)
the Caucasus and Central Asia - led by SHMU (Peter Roncak)
Meeting of the groundwater core group of the WGMA in Paris in April 2006, hosted by UNESCO
Scope of assessment agreed, questionnaire designed
Approved by the WGMA in May 2006, distributed in July 2006
Collaboration with INWEB established for SEE region
Workshop in Thessaloniki in April 2007

5. Types of transboundary aquifers
The questionnaire developed these further from the sections shown previously, and asked respondents to identify the type of their transboundary aquifers, or to sketch if it did not fit these.
Developed for questionnaire

6. SEE Assessment – report content and style
Consistent with lakes and rivers
Follows DPSIR framework; also consistent with CACENA
Main text and annex
Annex layout modified from rivers but tries to contain key groundwater descriptors – table rather than narrative

7. * * * Alluvial- Sedimentary * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *62 *
Alluvial-
Sedimentary 63 9 10 11 61 * 8 * 32 * * * * * 12 * 7 * 1 * * 13 3 4 6 * * * * * 14 . * * * 33 * 2 5 * 17 * 15 * 34 16 * 31 * * * 35 65 64 * * * 18 * * * * 36 * * 30 * 19 * * 37 29 20 * 21 23 * * 28 * 38 * * * * 27 * 22 * * 26 39 * * 40 41 24 * * 59 60
Karst 57 42 * 53 54 25 * 43 52 55 56 * * 44 49 * * 48 * * * 58 47 51 * * 50 * * * 46 * *
Questionnaires received 45 *

8. SEE Assessment – main features
Regional geology produces two distinct main aquifer types – karstic limestones of the Dinarides and alluvium in the plains of the Lower Danube and tributaries
Both are hydrogeologically very vulnerable to pollution and often closely linked to surface waters
Groundwater is very important, often providing >75% of total water use and generally dominant for drinking water
More than 60 transboundary groundwaters in this region alone, but not all are currently recognised as such by both neighbours

9. Two aquifer types
← Karstic groundwaters more often like this, and sometimes quite small
Alluvial groundwaters more often like this and some very large →

10. ←Vidlic Karst
Banat alluvium →

11. SEE Assessment – main conclusions
General status remains good, little evidence of widespread degradation of quantity or quality, or of transboundary impacts
But a few hot spots exist for both quality and quantity
May reflect recent history and economic situation
ICPDR is an established facilitator for collaboration in water management in the region and was widely referred to
Need bilateral agreements for joint identification, monitoring and data exchange and for management
Scarcity of data highlighted; some from short-term projects but need more systematic and sustained approaches to monitoring

12. SEE Assessment – remaining queries/tasks
Final responses and checking from countries – in hand, several received this week
Table 1 – what would be most useful to be included?
More examples in the main text- but examples don’t come from the questionnaire
Anything more/alternative to go in the summaries in Annex1?
Ensure consistency between CACENA and SEE reports, but allowing for differences in scale and numbers of groundwaters
Combine with rivers and lakes

13. Please also contact us if you would like a copy of the groundwater monitoring guidelines or the inventory report
Thank you