Projets (2)

Many rivers, lakes and streams in the EU are far away from the good water status that they should have reached by December 2015 or should reach at the latest by 2027, according to the EU Water Framework Directive. In Germany, for instance, only 10 % of rivers and streams have a good ecological and chemical status, due to pollution by wastewater, agricultural fertilizers and pesticides, heavy canalization, obstruction by hydro dam barriers, as well as urban sprawl and ground sealing in the catchment areas. In order to reduce and reverse these impacts on water status, it is necessary to assess them in an integrated way and carefully prioritise the necessary measures.

Over-abstraction occurs not only for irrigation use but even for industrial and civil uses and can cause in some cases dramatic effects on soil subsidence. Typical cases of illegal water abstraction occur when wells are operating without permit, or when water is pumped form rivers or channels without permit. Earth Observation (EO), especially satellite remote sensing, can provide well established methods for the monitoring of water abstraction. The detection of illegal water abstraction is a further step forward and is feasible only if permits are organized in a proper GIS. At first instance, EO methods for the monitoring of water abstraction could be summarized as follows: