Public administration in Norway is regulated by various laws and different authorities. The implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive will require a more coordinated administration, and will lead to new requirements for monitoring of groundwater.
Management
Use of groundwater in Europe. Click on the diagram to enlarge.Norway's most important sources for drinking water are the large and easily accessible resources of fresh surface water. Contrary to most other European countries, the use of groundwater in water supply in this country has been rather limited. This fact, combined with the extensive use of surface water in the generation of hydro-power, has resulted in the establishment of several water authorities in Norway. Consequently, public administration and management of water is governed by several laws and authorities.
The responsibility for management of groundwater covers authorities on all levels of government, both federal (e.g. resources), regional (e.g. pollution) and local (e.g. municipal land use). The EU Water Framework Directive requires also Norway to have a more holistic and coordinated management of all water resources.
More information on how Norwegian regulations and the EU Water Framework Directive affect the management of groundwater can be found on the website Groundwater in Norway.
Monitoring
Groundwater is an important resource for water supply and other uses. Even though groundwater is relatively well protected, this resource can be affected by both natural processes and anthropogenic activities. For instance, groundwater may be affected by:
- Weathering and dissolution of minerals in sediments and rocks
- Precipitation containing long-transported pollutants infiltrating to groundwater
- Effects resulting from seasonal variation and long-term changes in climate
- Physical interference such as regulation of water courses, extraction of groundwater and subsurface constructions
- Pollution resulting from settlement, transport, agriculture, industry etc.
It is therefore necessary to monitor both the quality and quantity of groundwater in order to ensure proper and sustainable exploitation of this resource for everyone. Monitoring isn't just a research objective, it is also part of water management in Norway, and monitoring of groundwater can therefore be an action imposed by law. Norway has currently three national networks for monitoring of groundwater.
Data from groundwater monitoring are used for several purposes, such as establishing background values, hydrogeological modelling of aquifers, fine-tuning water treatment, and imposed actions related to pollution. The implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive imposes new requirements for groundwater monitoring in order to carry out the overall management of all water resources. The existing national monitoring networks for groundwater/soil water include the Country-wide groundwater network (Landsomfattende grunnvannsnett - LGN), the National observation network for soil water (Nasjonalt observasjonsnett for markvann - NOM), and the network Soil- and water monitoring in agriculture (Jord- og vannovervåking i landbruket - JOVA).
Grunnvannsovervåking. Foto: B. Frengstad, NGU
Overvåkingsstasjon for grunnvann. Foto: J. Cramer, NGU
Published: 25. January 2008