Work in the Water resources area was concentrated on the following main tasks:

1. Monitoring of the development of the groundwater quality, including annual reporting of the counties’ monitoring results.

2. Establishment of a national groundwater model which accounts for volume, the geographic distribution and the availability of freshwater resources.

3. Investigations of geologic conditions and processes significant as to whether agents hazardous to the environment, first and foremost pesticides, are degraded or transported in the strata and the water environment.

Due to the restructuring of activities that has taken place during recent years, activities related to agents hazardous to the environment were significantly intensified. However, activities related to pollutants, such as nitrate, phosphate and heavy metals, were only carried out to a limited extent.

As regards Greenland, the glaciological investigations are aimed at procuring knowledge of the variations in the melting water volumes for use in connection with design of hydro-electric power stations.

In 1997 the level of activity was increased for several reasons. Comprehensive review work was carried out in connection with an international evaluation of the Danish National Agency of Environmental Protection’s procedure for approval of pesticides. Besides, many contributions in order to answer questions raised from political or administrative side were provided and further review work was initiated, e.g. on quantification of risk factors in connection with pesticide leaching and the risks related to the use of pesticides on uncultivated land.

A research group working with the development of methods for microbiologic control of groundwater and soil pollution was associated with GEUS, and this further increased the level of activity.

The increase in the external financing ratio was due to the influx of projects financed by EU, The Danish Research Councils etc.

The annual report on ground water monitoring commenced in 1988 as part of the Water Environment Plan I was issued on 1 December 1997. The report mentions that the contents of nitrate in the groundwater has not decreased and that the maximum limit of 25 mg/l recommended by the waterworks was exceeded in 25 per cent of the water samples from monitoring boring screens.
On this basis, conclusions as regards the trend in the development of the groundwater nitrate contents since the implementation of the Water Environment Plan I cannot be drawn.

Organic micropollutants (chlorinated hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons and phenols) were found in about 15 per cent of the screens analysed in groundwater borings (including water abstraction wells).

The analyses covered more than 100 different pesticides (including a few metabolites). About 35 of these were found in the groundwater through the groundwater monitoring programme or through the waterworks’ control of untreated water.
The maximum value for pesticides in drinking water of 0.1 microgram/l was exceeded in just over 4% of the borings covered by the monitoring programme and in 5% of the borings covered by the waterworks’ boring control programme. In the youngest, last-formed groundwater near the surface, the number of screens containing pesticides is higher than in the older, deep groundwater. The frequency is decreasing, the deeper into the ground the screens are placed.

The above main tasks concerning a national groundwater model and the pesticide investigations are depicted as strategic focus areas in the performance contract. The establishment of the groundwater model, which is financed via project contracts with the Ministry of Environment and Energy, was completed as regards the island of Funen and the model was tested with a promising result.

The pesticide surveys primarily take place under the auspices of the Groundwater Group financed by the Danish Environmental Research Programme (SMP 96) during the period from 1996 to 1999. The cross-institutional co-operation is organised in three projects. Two of the projects focus on conditions and processes significant to the possible sorption, degradation and transport of pesticides. This applies to the strata above the groundwater table and to the aquifers. The third project focuses on the development of models that can describe the possible pesticide transport in large areas. A significant part of the efforts of 1997 were concentrated on the selection of suitable field locations and pesticide types and on the planning and initialisation of field and laboratory tests.

Part of the pesticide research is financed through a contract with the Ministry of Environment and Energy and relates to the development of new methods for identification of pesticide types with a view to pesticide screening of groundwater. In 1997 the level of research activity was lower than planned due to highly prioritised review work.

The work of the Groundwater Group under the first Danish Environmental Research Programme (SMP 1, 1992-1996) was completed through the presentation of several new research results that show that the groundwater chemical and hydraulic processes primarily take place in the aquifers near the surface. These research results are expected to be communicated in international scientific journals.

The new method for groundwater dating, which is based on CFC gases, was further tested and implemented during 1997. The method is a useful tool, among other things in connection with the pesticide investigations.

A specific focus area in GEUS's performance contract concerns reorganisation and expansion of the national network of stations used for controlling variations in the groundwater level. In 1997 equipment of various makes for automatic and continuous recording of the groundwater table were tested.

Other groundwater tasks in 1997 were carried out in co-operation with especially the Water Supply of Copenhagen and dealt with the abstraction problems faced by Greater Copenhagen.

By means of funds from the Danish Environmental Support Fund for Central and Eastern Europe and DANIDA work was also carried out on water supply projects in Eastern Europe, India and Africa.

The work on the Greenland water resources was commenced in close co-operation with ASIAQ (Greenland Field Investigations). The initial purpose of the work is to develop a model that can describe the hydrological processes and mass balances in Arctic regions.

	R996	B1997	R1997	B1998
Man-year consumption (number)	50	52	61	65
Total turnover (DKK million)	24.5	29.8	32.6	37.5
Of this basic funds (DKK million)	15.9	19.5	17.5	23.4
External funds (DKK million)	8.6	10.3	15.2	14.1
External funds ratio	35%	35%	46%	38%