Selected groundwater studies of EU project AquaTerra leading to large-scale basin considerations

Several local groundwater studies within the EU project AquaTerra in the Basins of the Meuse, Elbe point at significant influences of groundwater on surface water, while the Brévilles Catchment shows a distinct problematic of pesticide loading to groundwater. Further modeling studies are currently being developed. In the Danube Basin no specific groundwater studies were carried out in the framework of AquaTerra. However on larger scales geochemical proxies such as strontium isotope ratios can give an insight into groundwater contributions to the river that reflects an integral signal of the environmental status of the Basin. Future local groundwater studies should be further correlated to the environmental status of rivers nearby.