GEMSTAT
This page provides a description and a link to a "GEMSTAT" database that provides information needed when modeling exposure levels or performing exposure assessment.
Short description
The GEMStat database provides access to data on groundwater and surface water quality collected by the GEMS/Water Global Network. This Global Network comprises 1400 monitoring stations in 80 countries and incorporates 2 000 000 separate records of over 100 parameters. Monitoring results are collated and submitted to GEMS/Water by National Focus Points (NFPs), themselves appointed and financed by member countries. Includes information on nutrients, ions, metals, microbiology and organic contaminants. LEvel of available data is differnet between countries.
Long description
The database of the United Nations Environment Programme Global Environment Monitoring System Water Programme (GEMS/WATER) is hosted on the GEMStat website. The Programme aims to improve water quality monitoring and assessment capacity in participating programmes while serving the United Nations organs and the global community with data and information on the state of global inland water quality.
The GEMStat database provides access to data on groundwater and surface water quality collected by the GEMS/Water Global Network. This Global Network comprises 1400 monitoring stations in 80 countries and incorporates 2 000 000 separate records of over 100 parameters. Monitoring results are collated and submitted to GEMS/Water by National Focus Points (NFPs), themselves appointed and financed by member countries. NFPs falling within the UN “European region” include Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
The database is accessible to the public free of charge on the website. Data are returned in the form of maps, plots and graphs relating to individual monitoring stations. Parameters covered include major ions, metals, microbiology, nutrients, organic matter and physicochemical characteristics.
Data can be grouped at the level of the state or the level of individual water catchment. The
database has worldwide cover (at differing levels of resolution). The types and amounts of data for European countries are illustrated in this table:
| Number of stations | Number of data points | Phys/Chem | Major Ions | Metals | Nutrients | Organic Contaminants | Microbiology | Date range |
| 318 | 823323 | 146747 | 136392 | 154742 | 108815 | 14539 | 27260 | 1978-2003 |
While there is not complete coverage – the temporal resolution of the data varying according to country – some data are available from the late 1970s continuously to the present day. Quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) are integral to the GEMS/Water programme. National Focal Points (NRPs) are required to adhere to sampling and analytical QA and QC protocols and to respond appropriately in the event of loss of data quality. Upon submission to GEMS/Water, data are checked in order to avoid any gross data translation errors.
The information held in this database is available as summarised data. Following selection of either a country or a catchment, the user is enabled to select from a wide variety of data values and specific monitoring stations within that catchment. The database then returns a summary of that data.
Link
Key words
pahs, metals, phenols, water, monitoring, nutrients, ions, microbiology, organic comtaminants, groundwater, surface water