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New Digital Tool Helps Protect Lithuania’s Waters
Lithuania is stepping up its efforts to protect lakes, rivers, and coastal waters with a new digital tool designed to monitor and assess water quality more efficiently. This innovative system allows experts to quickly evaluate the impact of human activities on the country’s water bodies, helping to keep them clean and healthy for future generations.
For years, traditional monitoring methods have been slow and incomplete, often overlooking smaller water bodies. As a result, crucial changes in water quality caused by pollution or human activity could go unnoticed.
To address these issues, a new monitoring data processing system was introduced last year. This system improves how Lithuania evaluates and manages the health of its inland and marine waters.
According to Dr. Mindaugas Gudas, Senior Advisor at the Hydrographic Network Department of the Environmental Status Analysis Center, the new system is designed to provide a more comprehensive and efficient assessment of human impact on the country's water bodies. It complements traditional monitoring methods by offering faster and more detailed insights.
The system was developed by the Environmental Protection Agency with funding from the Norwegian Financial Mechanism programme "Environment, Energy, and Climate Change." The Central Project Management Agency (CPVA) oversees the programme's implementation.
A Faster and More Comprehensive Approach
Expert highlights that this new system offers significant advantages over previous methods. It provides faster and more efficient assessments while expanding coverage to include many water bodies that were never monitored before.
“A large part of our smaller lakes and ponds—especially those under 50 hectares—were never monitored. Now, we finally have insights into their condition,” says Dr. Mindaugas Gudas.
The system also improves long-term monitoring by tracking changes in water quality over time. It helps identify lakes and rivers that require closer observation and provides additional insights into the various natural processes occurring within them.
According to Dr. Gudas, this tool is a major step forward in assessing the impact of human activities on nearly all of Lithuania’s water bodies. He stresses that it is important to monitor and protect not just the largest lakes and rivers, but all water resources.
Beyond improving data collection, the system also supports better decision-making for managing and protecting Lithuania’s water bodies, ensuring their long-term health and sustainability.
How the System Works
The expert explains that the new system operates through two main components: the water module and the land use module. The water module helps identify water bodies that may be significantly affected by human activity by analyzing satellite data on chlorophyll-a concentrations.
“Chlorophyll-a is often used as a quick indicator of water quality. For example, excessive algae blooms, which can harm aquatic ecosystems, are linked to high chlorophyll-a levels,” explains Dr. Mindaugas Gudas.
The land use module, on the other hand, tracks changes in land use that could lead to increased nutrient runoff into water bodies. This function helps experts understand shifts in water quality and allows for a faster response to environmental changes that may negatively impact aquatic ecosystems.
The CPVA believes this system is a game-changer for Lithuania’s environmental protection efforts.
“This tool gives us a much better understanding of what is happening in our water bodies,” says CPVA Deputy Director Sandra Remeikienė. “It also allows us to take preventive measures to keep our lakes and rivers clean for years to come.”
With this new technology in place, Lithuania is making great strides in protecting its natural water resources, ensuring a cleaner and healthier environment for all.
The communication campaign marking the end of the 2014-2021 Norwegian Financial Mechanism Programme "Environment, Energy, Climate Change" was initiated by the CPVA. The aim of the campaign is to highlight the programme’s achievements in improving Lithuania's ecosystems and reducing the negative effects of pollution. The campaign is funded by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism.