EUROWATERNET Data Collection 2002
Released on 2002-10-14
EIONET Priority Data Flows:
EUROWATERNET Data Collection 2002
River, Lakes and Groundwater Data
To: EIONET
PCPs on Water
To: EIONET NRCs River Quality
To: EIONET NRCs Lake Quality
To: EIONET NRCs Groundwater Quality
Cc: EIONET National Focal Points
From: Niels Thyssen, EEA
Date: 14 October 2002
Dear Colleague,
Further to our letter of 17 July 2002, I am writing to inform you of the detailed plans for the annual updating of data obtained through EUROWATERNET, and the subsequent inclusion of data and information on your national rivers, lakes (reservoirs) and groundwaters into WATERBASE. This is the second formal EUROWATERNET data flow and will run from now until 31 December 2002.
Scope of the data collection
The data sets to be collected through this exercise have been selected
on the basis of the following criteria:
-
Their relevance to the core set of indicators for water developed by the
ETC and EEA. These provide the basis for EEA reporting on water and have been
used in such reports as Environmental Signals 2002, the Kiev report and the Water Indicator Report due in 2003.
- The relevance of the data sets to the objectives and assessment needs of the Water Framework Directive, the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive, the Nitrate Directive and the Drinking Water Directive. These are the major pieces of legislation that will drive EU water policy over the next 15-20 years. A key objective for EEA/EIONET is to ensure as far as possible that data collected for EEA indicators is also used for the purpose of assessing policy progress and implementation. This is an essential part of the streamlining process.
Background material
Information on the requirements is provided in the document: Guidance
on Updating of Priority Data Flows through EUROWATERNET and the Population
of WATERBASE. Technical detail is provided on the parameters required by
water body type, the temporal coverage, the type of data and statistics
to be reported, the units of measurement, and also the method of data provision.
Excel templates are also provided which summarise the data exchange formats.
All background material is available in the EIONET
Interest Group on Water. The 2002 EUROWATERNET technical guidelines
take into account the considerable experience gained from countries, and
the requirements of the Water Framework Directive.
Delivery of data
Data files should be uploaded either to the Central Data Repository
at EEA or to your national EIONET server, depending on the
choice of your country for delivering EIONET priority data.
Validation of ealier data submissions
You are invited to download, examine and validate your national data.
Files of each country's data are available in the EIONET
Data Service, along with files of queries and missing data relating
to rivers. It would be very helpful if you could respond to these questions
and fill in as many gaps as possible during this validation period.
For more detailed information on how to access the data files and related questions, please see the Guidance document.
In case of any difficulties with accessing documents on CIRCLE or downloading data files from the EIONET Data Service: Please contact Hermann Peifer at EEA.
Other data collection activities in EUROWATERNET
The technical guidelines accompanying this 2002 EUROWATERNET data request
focus on freshwaters only. They also include a note of EUROWATERNET - Quantity,
which is in its test phase, and an invitation for any countries with an
interest in water resources to volunteer to pilot the implementation of
this data flow. Separate guidelines are currently being finalised for the
implementation of the first EUROWATERNET data flow for transitional, coastal
and marine waters. This data request will be made separately, in due course.
We hope that this information and the accompanying technical guidelines and templates will be useful for you in organising a programme of work with your NRCs during the October to December 2002 period.
If you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact Steve Nixon of the ETC/WATER with a courtesy copy of the request to me.
With kind regards
Niels Thyssen
Acting Programme Manager
Environmental Assessment
N.B.: Some of the links above require a login into CIRCLE at EEA.
