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The Monitoring and Assessment (MA EG) deals with ICPDR activities concerning surveillance as well as investigative monitoring and water quality analyses.

The Hague, 19 – 21 March 2013. A consultation conference organized by UNESCO IHP upon the occasion of World Water Day discussed the regional issues of groundwater resources governance. Andreas Scheidleder, chairperson of the Groundwater Task Group, and other ICPDR representatives ensured a strong focus on the Danube River Basin.

Groundwater constitutes the largest reservoir of freshwater in the world, accounting for over 97% of all freshwaters available on earth (excluding glaciers and ice caps). The remaining 3% is composed mainly of surface water (lakes, rivers, wetlands) and soil moisture. By incorporation into the Water Framework Directive (WFD), groundwater became part of an integrated water management system.

Water quality in the Danube has improved over the years, but there is still much work to be done to meet the region’s goals for water status. To improve the water quality, an ambitious programme of measures for the whole Danube River Basin District has been agreed under the EU WFD. To assess trends in water quality, the ICPDR oversees the TransNational Monitoring Network (TNMN). The network carefully monitors physical, chemical and biological conditions in the Danube and its tributaries, and provides in TNMN Yearbooks an annual overview of pollution levels as well as long term trends for water quality in the basin.