Collect, collate and disseminate information related to the prevention, assessment of the risk and investigation of groundwater pollution and the monitoring of groundwater quality.

Develop methods for assessing risk and investigating pollution of groundwater, for establishing policies for groundwater protection and for the use of modelling in defining protection zones, and for representative sampling of groundwater.

Participate in collaborative research led or promoted by WHO and associated international agencies on the above topics, and in promoting the application of research results.

Participate with and on behalf of WHO and other agencies in training related to the topics listed above, and prepare training materials for such training programmes.

Work Programme

Nine courses on groundwater protection and associated topics have been held in a series initiated before the present DFID support was provided, and the earlier ones were undertaken in association with CEPIS, the Pan American Health Organisation's centre for sanitary engineering and environmental sciences in Lima. Courses were in all cases customised to address key national or regional groundwater quality issues and tailored to the appropriate hydrogeological environments.

1989 Lima, Peru: "Impact of Urbanisation on Groundwater"
1990 Santa Cruz, Bolivia: "Regional Groundwater Exploitation for Municipal Water Supply"
1991 Sao Paulo and Salvador de Bahia, Brazil: "Groundwater Protection"
1992 Merida, Venezuela; "Groundwater and Agriculture - the Interrelationship"
1993 Cartagena, Colombia: "Groundwater Protection"
1994 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: "Evaluation and Control of Groundwater Pollution"
1995 Barbados: "Caribbean course on Groundwater Pollution Assessment and Protection"
1996 Queretaro, Mexico: "Aquifer Protection for Public Water Supply"
1998 Semarang, Indonesia: "Groundwater Quality Monitoring and Aquifer Control in Indonesia"

As stated under objectives, the work programme also involved the collation of data from existing reports and visits and the writing of reports. Support and advice to WHO was provided particularly with respect to the WHO/UNEP Global environmental monitoring system (GEMS/WATER) programme. The BGS Hydrogeology Group hosted at Wallingford in 1995 an expert consultation with the intention of strengthening groundwater in GEMS/WATER, and produced a draft paper on groundwater quality monitoring in the GEMS/WATER programme. Members of the Hydrogeology Group have regularly attended the steering committee meetings of GEMS/WATER and provided groundwater expertise as required for training courses and workshops organised by the programme. Also through the WHO Collaborating Centre, the Hydrogeology Group has assisted the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UN ECE) by providing groundwater expertise to its Task Force on monitoring and assessment of transboundary groundwaters.

Foster S S D, Adams B, Morales M and Tenjo S. 1993 Groundwater protection strategies - a guide towards implementation. PAHO-CEPIS, Lima, Peru.

Foster S S D, Gale I N and Hespanhol I. 1994 Impacts of wastewater use and disposal on groundwater. British Geological Survey Technical Report WD/94/55.

Chilton P J, Jegat H J and Stuart M E (eds). 1995 Groundwater and agriculture: the interrelationship. British Geological Survey Technical Report WD/95/26.

BGS/ODA/UNEP/WHO. 1996 Characterisation and assessment of groundwater quality concerns in the Asia-Pacific Region. UNEP/DEIA/AR.96-1, Nairobi, Kenya.

Chilton P J Revised chapter 9, groundwater. In: Chapman (ed) Water Quality Assessments: A guide to the use of biota, sediments and water in environmental monitoring. E & FN Spon, London, second edition.

Clarke R, Lawrence A R and Foster S S D. 1996 Groundwater, a threatened resource. UNEP Environment Library no 15, Nairobi, Kenya.

Chilton P J and Foster S S D. 1997 Monitoring for groundwater quality assessment: current constraints and future strategies. In: Monitoring Tailor-made II, proceedings of a workshop at Nunspeet, Netherlands, September 1996, 53-64.

BGS activities under Collaborating Centre designation still continue at a modest level without DFID support. A manual entitled "Groundwater quality - methodologies for assessment and monitoring" is well advanced in preparation for publication by Spon in its continuing water quality series. Efforts have been continuing to promote the programme of regional or national courses on groundwater quality and protection. Interest and links have been established in Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Peru/Bolivia and Chile, but shortage of funding at present prevents these from being taken forward. The materials listed above are still available and are being disseminated by BGS.

Tel: 00 44 1491 692284
Fax: 00 44 1491 692345
Email: J.Chilton@bgs.ac.uk