Groundwater Levels of the Main Aquifer and Panke Valley Aquifer 2006

Statistical Base

The basic data for the preparation of the groundwater isoline map are provided by the Working Group Geology and Groundwater Management of the Senate Department of Urban Development.
The regular recording of groundwater levels and their development started already in 1870 at 29 groundwater measurement points (Fig. 8).

Fig. 8: Hydrographic Curve of Groundwater Levels at a Measurement Point in the Borough of Mitte, from 1870 to the Present

The Berlin groundwater measurement network grew rapidly: By 1937, measurements were already being taken at more than 2,000 measurement points). At present, following a measurement network optimization in the city area, the State Groundwater Service operates approx. 1,000 measurement points which are screened into the five different aquifers. The measurement points are equipped with automatic data loggers, and provide daily measurements, some of them wireless.

Additional the Berlin Water Utility and the Brandenburg state authority for environment as well as other Brandenburg operators of waterworks provide groundwater measurement data for the Berlin area and the surrounding / hinterland, for the most part monthly taken. If groundwater has a direct connection to surface water (effluent situation) additional level data from surface water measurement points are used.

The present map incorporates measurements from 1,872 groundwater measurement points and 25 surface water levels, which are screened exclusively into the main aquifer (2nd GWL), for the Panke Valley groundwater aquifer (first GWL) on the Barnim plateau 32 groundwater measurement points and 6 surface water levels. At the measurement points which are measured daily, the value of May 15th 2006 was used; at the others, the nearest monthly value to this day was used.

The distribution of the measurement points is irregular: The measurement network is densest in the city center and in the immediate intake areas of the waterworks, and is thinner at the outskirts of the city, especially for the Brandenburg hinterland.