WISE SoE data request 2011

Dear Colleague,

The 2011 WISE SoE annual data request will run from Monday 1 August until Monday, 31 October 2011. Data are requested for:

• water quality in:
  • rivers
  • lakes
  • groundwater
  • marine and coastal environment
• emissions to water
• water quantity
• biological quality elements

As agreed between EEA and Eurostat, data reported under SoE emissions and SoE water quantity will be used by ETC/ICM for pre-filling the OECD/Eurostat Joint Questionnaire 2012 and do not need to be reported again by countries to Eurostat.

Reporting of 2010 data

The Reporting Obligation Database (ROD) has been updated for this data request.

Detailed definitions of the requested data for all water category datasets, except for Water quantity, are available in the Reportnet Data Dictionary (DD):

• Rivers
• Lakes
• Groundwater
• TCM
• Emissions to water
• Biology in rivers and lakes
• Biology in transitional and coastal waters

In order to facilitate the processing of your data, please only use the latest versions of data delivery templates downloaded from the DD. The available reporting formats are:

• MS Excel - please use only the original .xls format, don't change it to the newer .xlsx
• XML files - for more technically inclined
• MS Access - new reporting format introduced this year - more information can be found after clicking on the "info" button in the download section of the DD (see the picture on the right)

DD is continuously being improved and has been updated for the 2011 WISE SoE data request after consultation with NFPs and NRCs for water (see Summary of NFP/NRC consultation on Data Dictionary and Scoring criteria update).

Code list of nutrients and hazardous substances for all dataset definitions in the DD (except the one for biology data), have been harmonised. The "preferred substances" are indicated in the code lists.

Water Quantity reporting

Water quantity data are to be reported by using the WQ Reporting Tool and Manual.

If you have long-time series for certain Water Quantity parameters, which are difficult to report via the WQ Reporting Tool, you can report them by providing a specific internet URL link to where the data can be easily retrieved. You need to make sure that the parameter reported this way is following the WQ data manual definition. In a case of small discrepancies you need to describe them clearly. The WQ Reporting Tool itself provides a space for entering the internet link for streamflow and precipitation data. Should you choose another parameter, you can insert the corresponding link into the comments field provided.

Clarification of unsolved validation questions

Validation questions (outliers, violations of internal logical rules for the data, errors/gaps in station information) on the data reported last year and in previous years, and which have not been answered yet, are uploaded to Circa in country folders. The most important validation questions (critical QA issues) are specified for each reporting category. Replying on these is needed to achieve the highest evaluation score.

Please check these validation questions for water quality in rivers, lakes, groundwater, transitional and coastal waters, emissions, and water quantity and update/resubmit your datasets where necessary together with the new data. You may report separately, if identified potential outliers are indeed correct values.

Data Delivery and Automatic QA

All delivery files should be uploaded either to the Central Data Repository (CDR) or to your national Eionet server, depending on the choice of your country for delivering Eionet priority data. Please, use the proper formats for delivery of your datasets.

Automatic QA procedures will be updated by the end of August only, following the changes made in the Data Dictionaries. Therefore, we kindly ask you to upload your datasets not before September. We will send to you another letter (see here), with more detailed instructions, when the system is ready for your deliveries.

For the reporting on water quantity, the automatic QA procedures are included into the WQ reporting tool. No automatic QA will be available for reporting of biological quality elements, since 2011 is the first year for a regular annual data request. The data delivered this year will be used to develop such QA procedures for future data requests. Because of this you don't have to wait and you can upload your water quantity and biology datasets even before September.

You can find out more about the Automatic QA service for WISE SoE data flows at: http://cdr.eionet.europa.eu/help/WISE_SoE. The help files were created for one of the previous data flows, but the content is still valid with just some minor exceptions.

Evaluation and scoring criteria

EEA has reported to EEA Management Board on country responses to the Eionet water data collection since 1999 (see archive of EIONET Progress reports).

The scoring criteria for the 2011 data collection have been updated for the 2011 WISE SoE data request after consultation with NFPs and NRCs for water (see Summary of NFP/NRC consultation on Data Dictionary and Scoring criteria update):

• The reply to critical QA issues in validation questions was added as criterion to the scoring criteria for all reporting categories.
• Preferred SoE nutrient groups were specified for rivers and lakes
• Reporting under other reporting obligations is taken into account for emissions and water quantity
• Criteria for water quantity have been revised

No scoring criteria for biological data reporting have been developed yet, but will be considered after this year data reporting.

The scoring criteria evaluating the percentage of stations covered by the reporting, which were included for water quantity, will similarly be considered for reporting on water quality in the future.

Helpdesk and support

• In case of login problems or any other technical difficulties with Eionet web services, please contact Eionet Helpdesk
• In case of questions related to the content of the data requested, please contact the responsible person as specified in the updated Data Dictionary guidelines (see there under Methodology).

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support and look forward to another successful annual data flow.

Beate Werner
Head of Group - Water
European Environment Agency