Monitoring water resources, water use, water pollution and compliance IWRM for River Basin Organisations

Learn the methods and management of monitoring Water resources and water use Pollution and water quality Learning objectives Monitoring

For planning! For enforcement! Why do we monitor? Monitoring

Basin characterisation Land cover and use Water demand and use Surface Water resources Gender and Poverty Economical activities Groundwater resources Health and sanitation Biodiversity and environmental status Demography and educational level Infrastructural development Rainfall and evaporation Water quality and pollution sources

Monitoring for enforcement Monitoring Compliancy checks: Direct monitoring Indirect monitoring Indicative monitoring COMBINATION IS PREFERRED!

Our Water Management objectives. Monitoring Develop a reliable knowledge base of water resources availability as a basis for management; Ensure the water allocation system is effective and permits are being complied with; Ensure the pollution control system is effective and permits are being complied with.

Who is responsible? Monitoring The REGULATORY BODY has the overall responsibility for the monitoring. It does not mean that they conduct all the monitoring!

Key for succeeding with monitoring of water resources and water quality: Monitoring PRIORITISATION OF MONITORING STATIONS It is better with a few gauging stations that give reliable results than many stations that give uncertain results.

Monitoring Primary gauging stations – to give the reliable long- term measures. The requirements of accuracy and consistency of these stations are very high. Secondary gauging stations – to support the primary stations but are more focused on compliance. Targeted to identify relative changes. Tertiary gauging stations – are temporarily set up for specific studies

Monitoring surface water resources Monitoring Primary stations: 1.An even coverage over the river basin 2.Some should target natural flow conditions; 3.Enable accurate and consistent measurements 4.Easily accessible 5.Not more than 10

Monitoring surface water resources Monitoring Primary stations: Well maintained! Well paid and educated observers! Logging equipment!

Monitoring surface water resources Monitoring Secondary stations: 1.Cover upstream abstractions 2.Target major users 3.May be operated during only parts of the year 4.As many as resources allows

Monitoring groundwater resources Monitoring Concentrated investigations to assess availability Monitoring of groundwater levels to assess changes (primary + secondary)

Funding Monitoring Primary - Government Secondary – indirect by stakeholders Tertiary – direct by stakeholders In practice: one pot of money

Monitoring of abstracted water Monitoring Based on the pump capacity and time of operation Area of irrigated land Based on fees generated from sold water (utilities) + NORMALLY NO LARGE EXTRA COSTS - CONTROL MEASUREMENTS NEEDED!

Funding Monitoring Allocation Fees Self-monitoring - direct by stakeholders Control – indirectly by stakeholders

Monitoring of water quality Monitoring In the river: Primary – at primary runoff stations  load Secondary – only concentration  relative changes Point sources: Self-monitoring (and reporting) Spot checks PRIORITISATION OF PARAMETERS

Monitoring of water quality Monitoring Sampling + laboratory analysis needs quality control. In-situ measurements of indicative parameters (Cond. pH, DO) Two issues to think about 1.Frequency 2.Comparability

Funding Monitoring In the river: Primary - Government Secondary – indirect by stakeholders Point sources: Self-monitoring - direct by stakeholders Control – indirectly by stakeholders PROBLEM: laboratory analysis expensive!

No monitoring is meaningful if the results are not managed, used and disseminated back to the stakeholders Don’t forget! Monitoring

How are you doing? Monitoring  Is there compliance with water allocation permits?  Is there compliance with pollution permits?  Is the groundwater and surface water monitoring network producing reliable and usable data?  Are groundwater levels declining?

Monitoring is made for both planning and compliance purposes. Prioritisation must be made to ensure reliable data Compliance should be monitored both through self-monitoring and through indirect measurements in the downstream rivers. Emphasis should be given to good sampling and laboratory practices. Conclusions Monitoring