Groundwater is an integral part of the water cycle and an essential human resource. Humans must protect this ever-changing heritage and preserve it in a sustainable way by understanding the physical and chemical properties of aquifers and monitoring their quantity and quality. Numerous studies have collected immense volumes of data that are difficult to access and not always comparable or of adequate quality. A pioneering national-scale database, ADES, was created in 1999 to store and make available quality data on French groundwater. This tool is freely accessible for/to water managers, scientists and the public. The data management system used in the database satisfies two important objectives: it is interoperable and based on a recognised groundwater reference system and provides high quality data to a large public. Data from different producers require normalisation and standardisation of system requirements to allow data integration and exchange. The database designers set up shared data models, and based the system on communal repositories of water points and hydrogeological entities. Nearly 102 million groundwater quality records and over 17 million water-level records are currently available, describing almost 61,800 stations. ADES makes it possible to visualise in “real-time" water level data for approximately 1500 stations equipped with GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) technology. ADES also provides, on a public website and via web services, public quantitative and qualitative data. ADES is an essential tool for developing groundwater services based on the FAIR guiding principles: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable data (Wilkinson et al. in SD 3:160018, 2016) Article highlights A unique database for storing and disseminating reliable, comprehensive, and up-to-date groundwater data to a large public. An interoperable system based on a common reference system to ensure data reliability. An interoperable system based on a common reference system to ensure data reliability.

Groundwater is an integral part of the water cycle and an essential resource for human use. This moving heritage must be protected and preserved sustainably through understanding of the physical and chemical functioning of aquifers, and by monitoring its quantity and quality. The ADES groundwater database, created for storing and making available groundwater data in France, is a freely accessible tool for water management and communication, with easy data availability and exchange. Data originate from different producers, which requires normalization and standardization of the system needs, to allow data integration and exchange. Shared data models were set up and the system is based on communal repositories of water points and hydrogeological entities. Nearly 102 million groundwater-quality data and over 17 million water-level data are currently available, covering almost 61,800 stations. ADES allows visualization of water level data in “real time" for about 1500 stations equipped with GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) technology; it provides, on a public website and via web services, public quantitative and qualitative data that can be searched with different criteria. Data can be visualised in graphical or tabular form, and downloaded with associated metadata.