Project Tasks: Danish project component

• The Northeast Zealand catchment has an area of 2800 km2. The catchment has a subdued topography and is underlain by Quaternary deposits and limestone. Nearly 60% of the area is cultivated and only 10% remains in a natural state, for example, forest, wetlands, riparian areas, lakes and coastal nature reserves. A 435 km2 area to the north west of Copenhagen has been chosen as the study area.

• The main issue in this region is the need to reduce pesticide contamination within well field capture zones. Some of these wells are used to provide drinking water to the capital so that any contamination with pesticide is obviously a serious matter. A further, equally important issue is that of nitrate contamination of surface waters, particularly of those discharging to the Fjord of Roskilde, at the western border of the area.

• The catchment is the most densely populated in Denmark and is the main groundwater source for the Copenhagen water supply. Groundwater abstraction for drinking water supply, industry and irrigation exceeds the sustainable exploitable groundwater resource. The use of pesticides and nitrates in agriculture and various industrial landfill sites have caused significant water quality problems for groundwater as well as for surface water in the catchment. Balancing the competing demands is a major problem in the catchment.

• At the Havelse catchment in Denmark, work is being carried out in close consultation with Copenhagen Energy, the end-user responsible for water supply to the Danish capital. Because the results will be of value to their ongoing management plans Copenhagen Energy has a considerable interest in the project.

Nyt EU projekt skal afprøve ny metodik for interessent involvering i grundvandsbeskyttelsen

Et nyt projekt skal undersøge hvordan landmænd, borgere og andre interessenter kan inddrages i beslutningsprocessen om grundvandsbeskyttelsen. Det overordnede formål med projektet er at afprøve et beslutningsværktøj "Bayesianske netværk" til overordnet forvaltning af vandressourcen. Dette værktøj giver mulighed for samlet at vurdere såvel naturværdier, vandets kredsløb, samt økonomiske og erhvervsmæssige forhold, samt at inddrage interessenters viden og vurderinger. Projektet er 3-årigt og løber til medio 2004.

Metoden vil blive afprøvet i 4 områder i henholdsvis Italien, Spanien, England og Danmark. I samarbejdet mellem Danmark og Grønlands Geologiske Undersøgelse (GEUS) og Københavns Energi er det besluttet at fokusere MERIT-projektet på grundvandsbeskyttelsesaktiviteter i den vestlige del af Søndersødalen, nærmere betegnet i oplandet til Havelse kildeplads i Nordsjælland. Beskyttelsesindsatsen i Søndersødalen er i særlig grad rettet mod belastningen af grundvand og overfladevand med pesticider og nitrat fra landbrugsarealer og byområder.

• It was decided to attach the MERIT research programme to existing case studies where stakeholder engagement is already in progress. The intention is to run the research in parallel to a real decision making process, involving the end user. With the help of Birmingham University a plan for stakeholder engagement has been designed and put into place. Feedback from stakeholders has allowed the construction of a provisional network.

• Regional ground and surface water flow models for the area exist e.g. the National Water Resources model for Denmark, and several more detailed flow and particle transport models for each of the major well-fields within the area. Therefore there is the prospect of considerable data from these models providing input to the Bn probability tables. Data will include quantity relationships, e.g. ground water recharge, residence time in various geochemical environments and the relationship between infiltration areas and well-field catchment areas.
  

• According to Copenhagen Energy, stakeholders usually understand but do not necessarily agree with groundwater protection plans. Most stakeholders agree in principle to ground water protection but don't understand the complex interaction between surface land use and groundwater quality. To enhance local commitment to regional water needs, cooperation between Copenhagen Energy and local municipal or private water works is being established in the catchment area. A stakeholder meeting was held in November 2002 at which a number of issues were raised. Stakeholder engagement is continuing as the Bayesian networks are developed and refined.

• The stakeholder groups identified in the area and their responses to the planned pesticide and nitrate reduction programme are shown below: