IMIS

Fluctuations in groundwater levels are a determining factor for the sustainability of habitats. Therefore the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO (link is external)) has set up the WATINA network (link is external), a monitoring network of over 9000 groundwater wells in Natura 2000 (link is external) areas in Flanders. However, this assignment is hampered by factors such as accessibility of the terrain and manpower. The INBO already experimented with devices that monitor the groundwater levels and log them in an internal memory, but hardware failures or external factors such as vandalism can result in loss of months of data. Therefore, in the framework of LifeWatch, the INBO is now extending its monitoring techniques by using devices that can expose the groundwater levels real-time without the need for any manual intervention and thereby reducing the risk of data loss when severe issues occur. The devices use an internal modem and a SIM card to send the data over the mobile network and they are employed in terrains with specific issues such as military domains or floodplains. In a first phase, a batch of 15 devices will be installed in the field to evaluate their performance and their impact on our monitoring process. Meanwhile, development is going on to set up a platform where these data will be made publicly available.