Commissioned by Germany's Working Group of the Federal States on Water Problems (LAWA) the authors developed a procedure to define natural groundwater conditions from groundwater monitoring data. The distribution pattern of a specific groundwater parameter observed by a number of groundwater monitoring stations within a petrographically comparable groundwater typology is reproduced by two statistical distribution functions, representing the “natural” and “influenced” component. The range of natural groundwater concentrations is characterized by confidence intervals of the distribution function of the natural component. The applicability of the approach was established for 17 hydrochemical different groundwater typologies occurring throughout Germany. Based on groundwater monitoring data from ca. 26,000 groundwater-monitoring stations, 40 different hydrochemical parameters were evaluated for each groundwater typology. For all investigated parameters the range of natural groundwater concentrations has been identified. According to the requirements of the EC Water Framework Directive (article 17) (WFD) this study is a basis for the German position to propose criteria for assessing a reference state for a “good groundwater chemical status”.

Background values, EU Water Framework Directive, groundwater chemical status, groundwater typologies
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