Annual Report 2005
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Water resources |
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New national hydrological model
Water is necessary - for humans, as well as for fish and fowl living in and by watercourses and lakes. A national hydrological model is one of the tools for good water resource management. In 2005, GEUS and the counties began joint work on national modelling of the water balance and groundwater formation. This work will continue until 2009 and will be carried out under the programme for national monitoring of the aquatic environment and nature - known as NOVANA.The National Water Resources Model, the so-called DK-model, which GEUS used as basis for its most recent statement of potential drinking water resources in 2003, also forms the basis for the new DK-model of NOVANA.Work will include adapting the DK-model to the new water districts under the structural reform and bringing up to date the model with data from regional mapping of areas with special drinking water interests.The NOVANA DK-model is a large-scale model, which is to provide an overall picture of the water balance as well as the size and utilisation of groundwater resources, taking into account factors such as climate change, land use, and water extraction strategy. However, the project also aims at creating a consensus about the overall hydrological interpretation and data used, so that the model will have general acceptance in national management of groundwater resources. Finally, the project is to ensure uniform interpretation of the model across administrative borders. |
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Predicting future sources of
groundwater contamination
The use of new industrial chemicals or changes in the use of known chemicals can lead to new groundwater contamination. Denmark wishes to keep its groundwater clean. On behalf of the Danish EPA, GEUS therefore had a look at which substances other countries have found to be potentially threatening to groundwater.This work included extensive research of international literature and contact to European and US knowledge centres working with groundwater quality.The objective was to determine what the international scientific society deems to be potential future sources of groundwater contamination. Future contamination could not only come from new substances which industry has put into use, but also substances or microorganisms which could not previously be detected or substances whose use or occurrence in products was hitherto unknown.The substances and microorganisms predicted to be likely future contamination are described in the report "Emerging contaminants in Danish groundwater". These are substances and microorganisms which are not currently included in the national monitoring programmes. Furthermore, in the report GEUS recommends that research and monitoring should be instigated with regard to: new break-down products from pesticides, oestrogen from farm animals, disease-causing viruses, bacteria or single-celled animals, medicinal products and antibacterial agents, as well as certain synthetic musk compounds. |
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Break-through in
BAM research
BAM, a breakdown compound from the pesticide dichlobenil, is the most frequently occurring pesticide component in Danish groundwater. For a number of years, GEUS has worked on several problems related to BAM. In 2005, a project was completed which developed a cheap and quick analysis method for determining pesticides in groundwater, including BAM. Project efforts included the development of anti-substances for pesticides with which it is possible to measure the presence of pesticides in a water sample.The method was implemented on a microchip platform allowing for the analysis of concentrations ten-times lower than previously possible, and it is possible to analyse water with regard to concentrations of two different pesticides on the same platform.The method was developed in collaboration with Statens Serum Institut, Exiqon, and the Department of Micro and Nanotechnology and the Institute of Environment & Resources at the Technical University of Denmark.The project had support from the SUE programme (programme on the collaboration between sector research, universities, and enterprises and industry) under the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation. During the project it was ascertained that BAM can be broken down using a special type of bacteria which the project's scientists succeeded in isolating at a later stage of the project.The special type of bacteria is being patented and in 2005 two new research projects were launched.These projects experiment with the use of the special type of bacteria to remediate soil and groundwater that have been contaminated with BAM. One project is aimed at developing microbiological filters for use in connection with contaminated water wells and in-situ remediation of BAM-contaminated soil under farmyards.The two projects are supported by the Danish Research Council for Technology and Production Sciences and the Danish EPA, respectively. |
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Better quality in modelling work
The EU Water Framework Directive, which entered into force at the end of 2000, sets out requirements for management of national water resources. Hydrological models linking groundwater and surface water are used in resource management, and there is increasing demand for quality assurance of the use of these models. Since 2002, GEUS has taken part in the EUfunded research project HarmoniQuA.This is a project to establish procedures for how to achieve better quality modelling work.The project has concentrated on providing guidance on state-of-the-art modelling practices, creating dialogue between water-resources managers, modellers, reviewers and stakeholders, and ensuring transparency to a degree that will enable outsiders to understand the modelling process in detail and, thus, to discuss the modelling work. During the project a quality assurance tool was developed in the form of a software programme, MoST. MoST supports quality assurance within a number of fields such as groundwater, surface water, water quality, ecology, and economy. GEUS hosted a workshop in 2005 where the project and the functionalities of MoST were introduced. GEUS also manages the EU project HarmoniRiB.This project is working to develop methods to assess the uncertainty of water data and water models, and to establish a network of representative European upland areas through which data on uncertainty levels can be made freely available for other research projects. |
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Model for deep aquifers in Jutland
Sand layers from the Miocene period make up some of the most important aquifers in Jutland, and several counties in Jutland therefore stress the importance of these layers in the assessment and protection of Danish groundwater resources. GEUS and the counties are collaborating on the preparation of a three-dimensional geological model of the sediments. Several methods must be put into play in order to map these old, primarily fluvial, sediments. Geologists examined the content of fossils in six new boreholes in the counties of Ringkøbing and Vejle, and five boreholes in Sønderjylland County, in order to more fully understand the structure of this series of strata. Geophysical data are also being used to map the layers, and the sediments are being examined in coastal cliffs and quarries where the layers, in some places, have been exposed.An adjustment of the dating of the Salten Profile in the County of Aarhus revealed that a revision of the entire Miocene series of strata in the northern part of central Jutland is required.A PhD programme was commenced in 2005 with the aim of establishing a geological model for the Jutland Miocene aquifers.The model will be used for subsequent calculations of groundwater flow. |
