Satellites monitor Europe's water quality
Freshwater systems in Europe and around the world are under growing pressure from agriculture, economic development and climate change. EU monitoring programmes have therefore been drawn up, requiring a comprehensive overview of the quality of water within each river basin and lake district. The 'High resolution freshwater monitoring: FreshMon GMES downstream services' (FRESHMON) project established a continuous downstream service for monitoring inland waters at the European level. The initiative provided EO-based water quality services to help European and national authorities responsible for inland water quality in lakes and rivers to coordinate the Water Framework Directive (WFD). FRESHMON improved and harmonised different EO technologies for monitoring water quality and water depth, and integrated their best aspects with hydrodynamic models. In addition, the initiative established quality management standards for end users and set up a European business network for inland water service providers. The success of FRESHMON will provide valuable information on the quality of drinking water, water for agriculture and industry, organic components, and nutrients and sediment loads. The monitoring capability developed through the project will also be used for comparisons of water quality in past decades. A harmonised, pan-European water quality service is now a possibility thanks to the efforts of the FRESHMON consortium. This has been discussed by the European Commission and Member States on the basis of a Whitepaper proposing satellite-based inland water monitoring services.
Keywords
Earth observation, inland water, water quality, monitoring service, river basin, lake district
