Environmental Monitoring

The purpose of EU's water directive is to protect and make sure we use the water environment in a sustainable way. To implement the directive, we need to monitor the condition of the water environment. The results of this monitoring make it possible to find the right measures to clean up or restore water environments in poor conditions. 

Comprehensive insight into the water's environmental condition is a success factor for a good management of water environments, such as waterways, fjords, and coastal areas.  
Ecosystem-based management, from mountains to fjords, requires knowledge.  
Monitoring can reveal the effects of, for example, over-fertilisation, environmental toxins, microplastics, acid rain, physical interventions, and climate change. 

NIVA monitors sea and coastal areas, rivers and lakes through large national programs commissioned by the Norwegian Environment Agency, but also locally for e.g. municipalities, water areas and industrial enterprises. We monitor the state of the ecosystems, changes in water chemistry and biological quality elements and levels of environmental toxins. 

The methods we use to collect samples, analyze, interpret, and report the results are comparable in time and space. At the same time, we continuously work to improve and streamline the methods and the way we report and communicate the results. 

This is how NIVA contributes 

• We monitor water quality and determine the ecological and chemical condition in accordance with the water regulations 
• We monitor changes in the water environment caused by climate change 
• We assess the consequences of climate change and recommend measures 
• We monitor climate-related effects of increased CO2, increased temperature, changed rainfall and extreme weather. 
• We use models to perform simulation of future climate effects 
• We develop new technology to monitor the consequences of increased CO2 in the sea 
• We make site-specific environmental risk assessments of pollution 
• We provide solutions for restoration and cleaning of e.g. contaminated sea beds 

Why does NIVA work with environmental monitoring? 

Monitoring provides data for environmental research and the opportunity to detect and prevent environmental problems. This is necessary to be able to develop, evaluate and follow up targets, measures and instruments in environmental protection policy. 

Get in touch if you want to know more about what we can do for you.