Ministerio Medio Ambiente, Medio Rural y Marino (Confederación Hidrográfica del Júcar)

Areas of Activity: Environmental Quality

Sectors of Operation: Freshwaters

 

 

The period of drought to which most of the Iberian Peninsula, and especially the Júcar River Basin, has been subject since 2005 has given rise to a pressing need to implement certain measures of recognized urgency to mitigate its direct consequences on aquatic ecosystems (such as the impairment of water quality in major rivers and the effects thereof on the fish populations that live in them).

This project is part of a programme for optimum real-time monitoring of water body quality, covered by the “Research Network” required by Framework Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000, establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy.

The mobile stations’ chief (though not only) function is to automatically control and monitor the quality of certain water bodies at risk of not meeting the required environmental objectives, with significant pressure due to point source (urban or industrial) or diffuse discharges, including water bodies affected by pollutants of diverse origin, all by means of continuous monitoring of the physiochemical properties of flowing water or of the relevant point sources of pollution.

It is also sought to preserve water quality in certain protected areas, such as:
• Areas given over to water abstraction for human consumption
• Areas designated for the protection of significant aquatic species
• Water bodies declared to be for recreational use, including areas designated as swimming waters
• “Sensitive” areas as regards nutrients, including vulnerable areas and sensitive areas
• Areas for the protection of habitats or species where the maintenance or improvement of water status constitutes a major factor in their protection

The scope of this experience includes the design, construction and maintenance of, and use of information from, two surface water quality monitoring stations, offering real-time, continuous outputs on the most representative quality indexes in characterizing the monitoring points. These stations are part of the SAICA quality network, combining communication systems, graphical representations and information management, rigorously guaranteed by control centre operators and laboratory tests.