Automated Monitoring of Groundwater Quality with Ion-Selective Electrodes. An Application at the K. Souli Area, Greece

The dramatic decrease in subterranean water reserves, together with the increasing deterioration of water quality due to various forms of pollution, are two serious environmental problems confronting water reserve managers. These problems have obvious adverse effects on the agriculture, the economy the environment and the health of water consumers. The prevention (or mitigation) of such problems requires careful planning and bold administrative measures. In order to be effective, such measures must be taken on the basis of reliable information, deliverable to the planners and decision makers securely and rapidly. One indispensable piece of information pertains to the quality of the water in the aquifers. Conventional methods to assess water quality require direct sampling of the aquifer and chemical analysis which is accurate and reliable, but at the same time slow and rather costly. The fast and inexpensive acquisition of dependable data requires application of novel technologies, minimally dependent on chemical analysis. This paper describes such a technology, which comprises an innovative system to measure up to 15 physicochemical parameters simultaneously. The system is briefly described herein, together with an example of its application and performance in real field conditions, at the area of Kato Souli (Marathon, NE Attica, Greece).