A MONITORING PROGRAM FOR TESTING THE HYPOTHESIS ““IF STREAMS ARE POLLUTED BY PESTICIDES, THE GROUNDWATER IN SHALLOW AQUIFERS CLOSE BY ARE TOO”, IN THREE DIFFERENT RIVER BASIN AREAS IN SOUTHERN SWEDEN

Many surface waters in southern Sweden are polluted by inter alia pesticides. An extensive investigation in ten different streams in southern Sweden during May-September 2010 shows findings of pesticides in 95% of the analyzed samples. The Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU) has chosen to monitor three to six boreholes along three of these streams for testing the hypothesis “if streams are polluted by pesticides, the groundwater in shallow aquifers close by is too”.

The result will be of future importance for SGUs work with mapping of aquifers, groundwater dependent ecosystems, etc, in the Swedish work with the Water framework directive, and also in increasing the knowledge about groundwater-surface water interactions.