Monitoring Programs
No uniform body of data for Berlin is currently available. This compelled the use of different measuring programs for East and West Berlin.
The quality of near-surface groundwater in West Berlin is regularly monitored by the Routine Measurement Program of the Berlin Department of Urban Development and Environmental Protection. The program is comprised of 118 street wells and 75 groundwater monitoring wells. Water samples are taken in intervals of a half-year, in the winter and summer half-year.
Investigations in the physical-chemical area include the following parameters:
temperature; turbidity; odor; coloring; pH; conductivity; acid capacity to pH 4.3; sulfates; ammonium-nitrogen; nitrite-nitrogen; nitrate-nitrogen; inorganic nitrogen; orthophosphate-phosphorus, manganese, iron; magnesium, calcium, chlorides, organic carbons, and chemical oxygen demand (tests for oxidation capability by potassium-permanganate consumption were ended in 1987).
The routine measuring program is supplemented by special investigations, such as for heavy metals and AOX (adsorbable halogenated hydrocarbons). Street wells are tested by boroughs in a three-year cycle, determining the bacteriological and physical-chemical parameters of drinking water quality according to the Drinking Water Regulations of 1990.
The Waste Disposal Site Monitoring Program of the Berlin Department of Urban Development and Environmental Protection has regularly tested old and current disposal sites since 1985. Approximately 500 groundwater monitoring wells have been installed in the inflow and outflow areas of contaminated sites. Four measurements a year are usually conducted.
Data for East Berlin was available from 320 measuring points of the Groundwater Quality Measuring Network of the GDR Water Economy Direction or the High River Master of Berlin (Oberflussmeisterei), which were usually tested twice a year.
Selected Monitoring Points
The statistical base for West Berlin was formed by the selection of 94 street wells and 68 groundwater monitoring wells from the Routine Measurement Program. Criteria for selection was filtering in the first groundwater aquifer. A uniform distribution of measuring points was also attempted. 17 measuring points of the Waste Disposal Site Monitoring Program were included as supplement. The maps here depict mean values from measurements in 1989. No determinations of oxidibility (capability of oxidation) have been made since 1987, thus it was necessary to use measuring results from 1986. Tests for amounts of dissolved organic carbon were viewed as sufficient for the evaluation of organic material impacts.
The statistical base for East Berlin was based on analysis protocols of the Groundwater Quality Measuring Network of the GDR (East) Berlin Water Economy Direction from 1989-90. Here too a mean value was derived from samples of each measuring point. Only 59 measuring points could finally be used for depiction. The number of measuring points was considerably reduced by a lack of measurements and location coordinates, as well as the filtering of wells in deeper groundwater aquifers. Measuring points of the project “Ecological Resource Planning for Berlin and Surrounding Areas” were included as a supplement (BMUNR/UBA 1992). These data originated from hydrological explorations conducted in 1988-1991. A total of 95 measuring points are available for East Berlin. Most of them are private water supply facilities and street wells.
Determination of pesticide contamination was made by a special measuring program testing 48 groundwater monitoring wells in West Berlin in 1990, and 31 measuring points, primarily in East Berlin, in 1991. A few measuring points with contamination were tested both in 1990 and 1991. The map uses the most current value. A total of 69 measuring points are shown.
The AOX data are from a special examination program which tested measuring points in the West Berlin routine program one time in 1989. A few analyses of water samples taken from groundwater in the course of construction in all Berlin in the years 1989 to 1992 were included for these parameters.