Designing the National Network for Automatic Monitoring of Water Quality Parameters in Greece

Abstract

Water quality indices that describe the status of water are commonly used in freshwater vulnerability assessment. The design of river water quality monitoring programs has always been a complex process and despite the numerous methodologies employed by experts, there is still no generally accepted, holistic and practical approach to support all the phases and elements related. Here, a Geographical Information System (GIS)-based multicriteria decision analysis approach was adopted so as to contribute to the design of the national network for monitoring of water quality parameters in Greece that will additionally fulfill the urgent needs for an operational, real-time monitoring of the water resources. During this cost-effective and easily applied procedure the high priority areas were defined by taking into consideration the most important conditioning factors that impose pressures on rivers and the special conditions that increase the need for monitoring locally. The areas of increased need for automatic monitoring of water quality parameters are highlighted and the output map is validated. The sites in high priority areas are proposed for the installation of automatic monitoring stations and the installation and maintenance budget is presented. Finally, the proposed network is contrasted with the current automatic monitoring network in Greece.

A New Automatic Monitoring Network of Surface Waters in Greece: Preliminary Data Quality Checks and Visualization

“…Only few sparse efforts have been carried out by educational and research institutes or local water management authorities, with limited geographical and temporal application. Thus, many existing automatic monitoring stations with valuable data have been abandoned, others do not operate appropriately due to inadequate maintenance or the use of outdated measuring technologies, while in most of them data are fragmented and remain undisclosed [16].…”

“…Recently, the HCMR has surveyed the existing network of automatic water quality stations in Greek rivers and, by applying a GIS-based multicriteria decision analysis approach, it has identified the existing monitoring needs along with the priority areas for the installation and operation of automatic, telemetric stations [16]. Taking advantage of the financial support under two relevant research projects, HIMIOFoTS [27] and OpenELIoT [28], 15 stations have been established across Greece in 2019 and 2020.…”

Assessment of Automatically Monitored Water Levels and Water Quality Indicators in Rivers with Different Hydromorphological Conditions and Pollution Levels in Greece

“…Until recently, water quality programs for surface waterbodies were largely based on low-frequency sampling regimes that could not capture system extremes and complex hydrochemical patterns [6]. Real-time water quality and water level observations made by automatic stations provide the historical data series necessary for understanding the processes occurring between catchment hydrology and streamwater chemistry, how the time scale and flow paths of the contaminants' transport change with flow regimes and their responses during hydrological episodes [7], and with impacts from anthropogenic activities [8]; additionally, they can be essential in determining the current site status and making short-term predictions concerning water availability and possible related risks [9]. High-temporal-resolution data are especially valuable in small-sized river catchments, in which the response to processes is high and fast [10], in understanding the mechanisms controlling pollutant diffusion caused by rainfall events [11,12] and for the detection of climate change impacts on water quality [13].…”

On the Use of an IoT Integrated System for Water Quality Monitoring and Management in Wastewater Treatment Plants

“…WQM can be described as a method for periodically sampling and analyzing water conditions and characteristics [8]. This method forms the basis for water environmental management, as it is vital to monitor source waters and the aquatic systems that receive inputs from industrial waste and sewage treatment plants, stormwater systems, and runoff from urban and agricultural lands [9]. Similarly, domestic sewage and water flows resulting from chemical processes and waste in industry and sanitation should be monitored in wastewater treatment plants that purify the water to decontaminate it before releasing it into the sea (or other large bodies of water), or be used for other applications such as irrigation, and to detect possible toxic or radioactive discharges [10].…”