nowEurope

HYDEKO KV is Slovak SME specialized in the geological, geochemical, hydrogeological and hydrochemical investigations including evaluation of geological factors of the environment. In the field of hydrogeology, HYDEKO - KV holds expertise in construction of hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical maps, complex evaluation of hydrogeological regions, and investigations of regional and local resources of water supply. In the field of geochemistry, HYDEKO - KV is experienced in regional and thematic geochemical mapping and in monitoring of organic matter and contaminants. Company has actively participated as partner in several international projects - one of the most interesting project was EU project GEOWATERS (http://www.geowaters.com/) - Integrated geophysical techniques for surveying and quantifying potentially polluted sediments in European waterways. This project was financed by the 5.FWP. The Slovak key person for this project was Director of the HYDEKO KV - Dr.Kamil Vrana.

New sediment layers accumulating on the floors of rivers, canals, lakes, and harbours in industrialised countries contain varying amounts of contaminants which have been discharged from a range of activities, both legal and illegal. These contaminated sediments are known collectively as sludge, and have been accumulating since the 1950’s. The contamination is often startling; the River Rhine discharges 13 tons of Cadmium annually to the North Sea, of which 8 tons comes from Dutch industry. The Rhine, together with similar surface waters, provides 65% of drinking water in the Netherlands. The identification of contamination in waterways like these has led to the realisation that there is a need to carry out surveys of the pollution, in many cases followed by remediation. Contaminated water floors, though probably created in the past, continue to disperse their pollutants in the water, thus creating a potential effect on the quality of drinking water and recreational water. The market for surveying the European Waterways has been calculated as worth 700 M Euro. The savings realised by using the new combined technologies of this project are 30% of standard survey costs, while the quality of information provided is far more detailed. Saving in remediation costs would therefore be huge. Two technologies which are applicable in this field are high resolution shallow seismic, and water-borne, or submerged GeoRadar.

This CRAFT project had as main aim the development of an integrated geophysical technology to measure and monitor recently deposited, and potentially polluted sediments in European freshwater waterways which are contaminating water supplies. The proposed technologies were non-invasive, and with very low environmental impact. The data output from these techniques forms the basis of a management tool to be used by the potential end users, such as local authorities or dredging companies.

By this project technological developments were put to the test in field trials at selected sites, which were investigated in depth, and serve as case histories for the dissemination of results. Ten sites have been selected in Greece, Hungary, Netherlands and Slovakia - which cover a wide range of water bodies from major rivers, lakes, streams and canals, where a range of pollution types have been recorded in the upper soft sediments, from heavy metals and hydrocarbons to fertilisers and other industrial waste.

What was the main reason for participation in this project for HYDEKO KV? Director Vrana explains that “it was wide previous international co-operation, active publications, positive presentation of professional and managing skills in previous positive results in PHARE, INCO-Copernicus and national R&D projects and also adequate HW and SW support for practical measurements.”

In the project participated following partners:

Geomega, Hungary (project co-ordinator)
Scanlink, The Netherlands
Selor, The Netherlands
TerraMentor, Greece
Fractal, Hungary
Geophys. Lab., Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Hydeko, Slovakia
Map, The Netherlands
Radar Systems, Latvia