State of water quality assessment reporting at the global level - UNEP GEMS/Water Programme

1. State of water quality assessment reporting at the global level - UNEP GEMS/Water Programme Intersecretariat Working Group on Environment Statistics, International Work Session on Water Statistics, Vienna, June 20-22, 2005

2. HOW TO ASSESS GLOBAL WATER QUALITY? • There are two approaches: • Establish monitoring laboratories and staff worldwide to operate a global programme – this would be exorbitantly expensive and impossible at the present time. • Create a network of participating countries that provide data to a central global database. 5000000 Faecal Coliform (No./100 ml MPN) 0 1979 - 2002 Oxygen Dissolved (mg/L O2) Ahmadabad 1979 - 2002 600 Biochemical Oxygen Demand (mg/L O2) 0 1979 - 2 002

3. 4 Core Activities 1. A global inland water quality database and international network. 2. A leading source of data for global environmental assessment processes. 3. Technical (QA/QC) tools and resources. 4. Building the capacity of developing and transitional countries to collect and manage water quality information.

4. Who Participates? Region # of Stations # of Values Date Range Africa 138 206,907 1977-2004 Americas 662 417,994 1965-2004 Asia 332 641,940 1971-2004 Europe 318 823,323 1978-2003 Oceania 94 206,650 1979-2004 Totals 1544 2,296,814 1965-2004

5. Global Water Quality Network

6. QA/QC – Quality Assurance and Quality Control Analytical Methods Dictionary QA LOOP Assessment Programme Quality Assurance Manual Laboratory Evaluation Studies Global Participation in Interlaboratory Study No. 5 -38 countries and 68 labs

7. Global Runoff Data CentreKoblenz, Germany Total stations in 2005 = 7222

8. Joint GEMS/Water and GTN-H Stations (100) Joint GEMS/Water and GRDC Stations (446)

9. Database Access & Data Distribution New online water quality database GEMStat – official launch, March 22nd, World Water Day www.gemstat.org -- searchable • Station(s) selection • Time period • Parameter(s) selection • Statistical Analysis • promote access to information worldwide • promote interoperability and comparability of datasets • as up-to-date and comprehensive as possible

13. UNEP GEMS/Water Programme Aare River at Brugg Figure 1: Station photograph Figure 2: Watershed Region Figure 3: Geographical Location

14. UNEP GEMS/Water Programme Aare River at Brugg

15. PROGRAMMEFOR DEVELOPMENT OF GLOBAL WATER QUALITY INDICES(2005-2007) • FORMATION OF AN EXPERT GROUP TO REGULARLY REVIEW PROGRESS AND PLAN FUTURE ACTIONS • PILOT STUDY ON A GLOBAL DRINKING WATER QUALITY INDEX (2005/2007) • INDEX TO ASSESS THE STATUS OF COUNTRY WATER QUALITY MONITORING NETWORKS (2005) • PILOT STUDY ON A GLOBAL INDEX OF EUTROPHICATION STATUS (2006/2007) • GUIDELINE DOCUMENT ON WATER QUALITY INDICATORS AND INDICES (2006/2007)

16. UNEP GEMS/Water Programme Thank You www.gemswater.org Canada, UNEP Nairobi