How healthy are our rivers? What is happening beneath the surface, where groundwater—often hidden from view but essential for life—flows? A new network of automatic monitoring stations, established as part of the GRENNAT project, is helping to answer these questions.
The monitoring network was established by the project partner Consorzio di Bonifica Veneto Orientale, which installed a total of 12 monitoring stations in the area between the municipalities of Caorle and Bibione: five for surface water monitoring and seven for groundwater monitoring.
The stations continuously measure key physico-chemical water parameters, including temperature and electrical conductivity, while selected locations also monitor pH, dissolved oxygen and groundwater level. This provides continuous insight into the condition of water resources and enables the collection of reliable data to support their long-term sustainable management.
Before installation, all stations were assembled and tested in the laboratory. They were then installed at designated locations by technical specialists. Each station is equipped with a data logger that automatically transmits measurements to a web-based platform, where the data can be viewed and analysed almost in real time.
The newly established network represents an important new infrastructure for water monitoring across the cross-border area. In the long term, it will improve understanding of changes in the aquatic environment while providing reliable data to support the protection of natural resources and the sustainable management of Natura 2000 sites.
By using modern monitoring technologies, the GRENNAT project makes an important contribution to more effective water monitoring and to strengthening cross-border cooperation in safeguarding one of our most valuable natural resources—water.
