Transboundary Aquifers in the Eastern Borders of The European Union

In recent decades, the importance of groundwater for the economy and in particular for its supply to the population grew significantly. The management of water resources requires multi disciplinary and multi functional approaches. The situation becomes even more complex when a river basin or an aquifer is of a transboundary nature. Until 2009 there have been no suitable provisions of international law nor adequate guidelines which would set out sound principles for the management of such resources. Certainly, individual countries conclude bilateral agreements where they incorporate joint aquifer resource management, although until most recently their provisions mainly address surface waters, drawing on the UN 1997 Convention, leaving aquifers in the background.

The work carried out within the framework of the International Shared Aquifer Resources Management Project (ISARM) has resulted in the elaboration of Draft Articles of the UN International Law Commission, that give foundation to “The Law on the Use of Transboundary Aquifers” as adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 2009. The UNGA Resolution that promotes these regulations encourages Member States to implement these regulations and to incorporate them into bilateral agreements. At the same time, further elaboration of the guidelines for the incorporation of the principles of aquifer management into sustainable environmental management is strongly recommended.

Groundwater quality management is a task of the EU Water framework Directive, that has to be elaborated for river basin management plans. It should be treated together with surface water resources as an integrated management system and refers to the statutes, state of the environment of river basins and also past and present activity in these areas. The results of groundwater monitoring are the basis for groundwater quality assessment and trends calculation. The range of monitoring is gradually extended; new chemical compounds and microbiological species should be checked. Nowadays groundwater quality management is one of the serious problems for national and river basins water management planes.

The analysis of the history of water conflicts which have inseparably accompanied the development of our civilisation indicates many interesting trends. Most countries have transboundary waters in their territory, which gave rise to various conflicts at a smaller or greater scale in the past. Observations and analyses of examples from Middle East, Africa or Southeast and Central Asia should lead to conclusions and activities to prevent water conflicts which may occur practically everywhere in the world. This is particularly important at the time of a dramatic population growth, the extreme natural phenomena and climatic variability. Different scenarios indicate that water resources will be one of the most desired raw materials in the twenty-first century, which can give rise to intensifying conflicts in the areas of transboundary waters.

At the time of shrinking unpolluted surface water resources, groundwater can also be the cause of conflicts. Therefore, the prevention of water conflicts should be a strategic and priority direction of actions by states which share transboundary waters, while the lessons learned from the water conflicts known to date should contribute to the building of a compromise and rational water management between the neighbouring countries.

The main task of groundwater monitoring system in Poland is to monitor and assess condition of groundwater bodies (including GroundWater Bodies (GWB) in the border area), pertains to the qualitative and quantitative status, in order to plan water management in river basin districts and achieve required environmental goals. In this article were presented groundwater monitoring networks focused on assessment of pressures from the territory of the neighboring country, which can influence groundwater chemical, as well as quantitative status in the border area of Poland. The surveys in groundwater monitoring networks are aimed at assessment of changes in groundwater quantity and quality to provide with data, which allow to prepare reports and plans of water management and water protection.

Good practices in the domain of water protection, related to international cooperation were worked out on the level of the International Commission for the Protection of the Odra River against Pollution. The experiences and solutions applied in working groups of the International Commission for the Protection of the Odra River against Pollution can be implemented in international commissions, whose range covers other international river basin districts.

The problems of unsatisfactory state of water resources and imperfections of water management in the Western Bug river basin are most urgent in the region. These problems are not national but international because of transboundary status of this river. In the presented paper the natural and man-made factors of hydro-ecological situation forming in the catchment are considered. Much attention is paid to the analysis of water quality in the rivers as well as the trends and scales of long-term water runoff changes in the Western Bug river basin.

The Western Bug is a transboundary river with relevant environmental impact on the Vistula and the Baltic Sea. On entering the EU it must comply with the European Water Framework Directive, which demands an integrated water resources management (IWRM) on river basin scale. In this paper a systematic approach addressing the IWRM principles is proposed and applied for the upper part of the Western Bug. The existing pollution regime in the W.Bug catchment area to the gauge W.Bug – Kamianka Buska is assessed by application of a five step methodology including system screening, compilation of pressures, comparison with biological status, detailed process analysis of relevant interactions, definition of response measures based on a multi-criteria evaluation. Survey of previous studies, analysis of regional monitoring data, MFA modelling with MONERIS tool and carried measurements campaigns have shown, that in a row with extremely high point source input load on a watershed border (Lviv WWTP), such diffuse sources of nutrients as tile drained areas, rural areas without waste water treatment and erosion compose a nutrients input over an entire basin (approx. 2,500 km²) comparable to the mentioned point source. Moreover, the emission patterns partitioning is different for DIN and TP. During the measurements campaign the results of MFA modelling were supported and other deficits, such as extinction of the natural Poltva river ecosystem and nitrate pollution of the uppermost aquifers were found. Therefore, for detailed process analysis two main subsystems have been identified: (i) River Poltva and River Bug downstream from the confluence with the River Poltva, (ii) the uppermost aquifers. Already at this stage of study it was found that water quality formation in W.Bug is subject to acute deficits in the settlements sanitation systems in the basin while diffuse pollution due to agricultural activities is (under the current socio-economic conditions) of lower relevance.

Transboundary problems of groundwater development are very significant for Russia as it has land boundaries with 13 countries. The main research line concerning this problem is to develop principles and criteria of acceptable groundwater withdrawal by neighbouring countries with compliance with environmental limitations. This includes groundwater protection from depletion and contamination, development of constant groundwater deposit models applied in border regions of neighbouring countries in order to determine groundwater balance elements of certain hydrodynamic flows, their internal interaction and interaction with surface water. Estimation of potential groundwater shared use based on large scale assessment and mapping of its sustained yield with regard to groundwater protection from contamination is also of importance.

Determination of prospects for groundwater use and withdrawal management is always connected with the problems of exploitation restrictions in accordance with different criteria. The latter may be both internal and external. Among internal criteria are limitations of hydrogeological and hydrodynamic operation conditions, such as groundwater recharge rate, tolerance dynamic level lowering throughout estimated period, risk of non-standard groundwater being drawn up to a water intake, and others. The external criteria that can restrict groundwater use are related to possible impacts of a planned water extraction upon different environmental components including river run-off, suppression or death of vegetation due to excessive lowering of shallow groundwater level in the upper unconfined aquifer; activisation of karst and suffusion processes; earth surface subsidence, etc.

The main tasks of hydrogeological investigations are the following:

Specific examples of transboundary groundwater use perspective assessment in particular adjacent zone regions of Russia are presented.

In 2008 the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP) introduced the map of transboundary aquifers. The map gives the general view where transboundary aquifer occur, unfortunately not all aquifers were identified. Further efforts are needed to extend the knowledge in this field.

In the paper the main aquifers and aquifers systems in Belarus were charcterised. There are five main water pressurized systems in the national territory of Belarus that are widely used for the purpose of general water supply: Quaternary, Palaeogene, Albian-Cenomanian, Devonian and the Upper Proterozoic. Base on the available information the attempt to identify regions of transboundary groundwater flow occurrence were taken. Because of the lack of sufficient date in that field the detailed study of hydrogeological condition in indicated areas are recommended to achieve bilateral cooperation and sustainable use of aquifers.

In Lithuania the transboundary groundwater flows have been identified in border area with Belarus, Latvia, Poland and Kaliningrad oblast (Russia). There is a different level of aquifer identification. Although the research do not indicate the influence of groundwater abstraction on the qualitative and quantitative parameters. The paper describe the major projects carried out in the areas of transboundary aquifers base on the cross-border activities conducted in accordance with the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive. The need of obtaining representative information on the qualitative and quantitative status of drinking groundwater resources was identified. This information should become a background for scientific works for sustainable management of groundwater resources shared with neighboring countries.

Peculiarities of groundwater monitoring in Belarus are discussed in the paper. Processes of their accumulation, analysis, systematization and data generalization concerning quantitative and qualitative parameters of groundwater are discussed. The structure and composition of the monitoring database is described. The positive directions of development of groundwater monitoring are discussed.

In Moldova more than 95% of all drinking water for rural and urban settlements is drawn from groundwater sources and serves as the main source of drinking water for about 65% of the population. Moldovan citizens have witnessed significant deterioration of water supply services and a virtual cessation of wastewater treatment. The data show that 47% of the Moldovan population had no access to safe drinking water and 54.8% had no water piped to their households. The quality of surface and groundwater of the country in most cases does not reach the European and international standards. The transboundary impact is very important for the relations between Ukraine, Moldova and Romania and affects the socio-economic life of population. Problems such as the hydro-electric power station construction on the River Nistru, flow of waste-water, biodiversity of the River Nistru, use of water of the Nistru and Prut for irrigation affect Moldova and its neighbours and must be resolved by mutual consent. In this regard, the Moldovan Government has concluded bilateral agreements with Romania and Ukraine.

Department of Hydrogeology, Geological Engineering, and Geo-Ecological Research is a part of the Ukrainian State Geological Research Institute (UkrSGRI). It supports different geological enterprises as well as local authorities by providing scientific methodology. One of the priority works is delivering high standard maps based on computer databases. The natural and industrial factors of activation of dangerous external geological processes and events in Ukraine became the basis for creating the environmental forecasts. Department research touches many environmental issues and are aimed at the implementation of the national Ukrainian environmental policy, the use of natural resources, and the provision of environmental safety.

In the framework of an EEA Norway grants project involving industrial and scientific partners, complex hydrogeological investigation and groundwater modelling of a regional transboundary aquifer between Hungary and Ukraine were implemented in 2009. This challenging cooperation work was completed by an EU country (Hungary) and a non-EU country (Ukraine). This pilot project demonstrated how the EU Water Framework Directive might be applied for a regional scale transboundary aquifer between Hungary and Ukraine. The transboundary aquifers play a significant role in Hungary because the land of the country is mainly located in a deep and closed basin called the Carpathian Basin. 40 of the total 185 groundwater bodies are classified as transboundary in Hungary. The authors of this work were involved in participation in an earlier NATO Science for Peace Project [1] which investigated a transboundary aquifer between Hungary and Romania some years ago. The experience gained in that project [2] was utilised by the researchers in the current work to conduct the present complex hydrogeological study in a well-organised and efficient way.

In order to achieve sustainable water management (Lenart et al. Complex hydrogeological study of the alluvial transboundary aquifer of Somes/Szamos (Romania – Hungary), 2003) of the investigated internationally shared aquifer, the main tasks of the present international project were: (a) development of a common hydrogeological data-base; (b) additional field measurements; (c) interpretation of the geology for a common conceptual hydrogeological approach; (d) creating the conceptual flow model of the investigated transboundary aquifer; (e) regional scale groundwater flow modelling; (f) model simulations of different scenarios for groundwater management purposes; (g) review of the main results obtained from the transboundary approach as perceived in the European Water Framework Directive. As one of the main products, a common regional groundwater flow numerical model has been built and calibrated on historical measured field data. It is already and shall be in the future very useful for a possible joint management of groundwater resources between Hungary and Ukraine. The derived results enable a better evaluation of groundwater resources and a sustainable management of these resources.

Groundwater bodies along the Hungarian-Slovakian border form interconnected systems, which supply both countries with drinking water. Also surface waters, rivers and wetland ecosystems are dependent on the underlying groundwater. The EU Water Framework Directive deals with the quantitative and qualitative status of groundwater and protection of the ecosystems, which depend on groundwater as first priority objects. Three transboundary groundwater bodies were investigated in the Hungarian-Slovakian border region: Ipoly/Ipeľ Valley, Aggtelek-Slovak Karst region and Bodrog region within the European Union INTERREG IIIA type of project, named “Environmental state and sustainable management of Hungarian-Slovak transboundary groundwater bodies (ENWAT)”. Results of the project, based on hydrogeo-chemical evaluations and hydrogeological models, local needs, cost aspects and best practices, are a step forward in the creation of a joint Hungarian-Slovakian water management plan by supplying basic data and fresh information on transboundary groundwater bodies. The study also indicated the need to continue the process of pollution spread characterisation and the risks assessment in the case of groundwater resources by more detailed sampling and modelling on both sides of the border. Co-ordination and implementation of such activities jointly could provide logistical advantages, reduce overlapping activities and lead to savings of time and money.

An integrated approach to river basin management seems to be the most appropriate and promising way to achieve sustainable development of the large river catchment. Such approach is especially essential in the areas where economical activities are occurring together with great needs for nature protection due to its unique values and, local and global importance for ecological completeness. The Narew River Basin is a perfect example of such area. The main water management problems (key pressures and impacts) of the basin were identified. The present state of components of the integrated water management was recognized. Finally, the main directions for achieving integrated management, with their strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities, were elaborated.