Environment
SGU is responsible for environmental monitoring of groundwater in Sweden.
Soil containing high levels of certain elements can pose a risk to animal and human
health.
SGU’s biogeochemical mapping provides a picture of bioavailable concentrations of
different substances, i.e. what can be taken up by humans.
Photo: Andes Damberg
(top and bottom),
Lotta Levin-Philblad & Curt Fredén
People, animals and plants are dependent on their external environment. The different substances occurring in soil and water can affect us – for good or ill.
Often it is the other way round: we humans, through our various activities, adversely affect our environment. Emissions from towns, factories and agriculture can find their way into soil, groundwater, rivers and the sea.
Much is now being done in different quarters to reduce emissions and minimize human impacts on the environment. The Swedish Parliament, for example, has adopted 16 national environmental quality objectives, which are all concerned with making sure we hand over to the next generation a society in which all of our major environmental problems have been solved.
Responsibility for the environment
Water is one of our most important foods. To safeguard future supplies of drinking water of good quality, we need information on where our major groundwater resources are to be found and what steps we can take to protect them from negative impacts.
SGU has a particular responsibility for the environmental quality objective Good-Quality Groundwater and for one of the interim targets under the objective A Good Built Environment, concerned with reducing the use of natural gravel.
Other environmental quality objectives relevant to our work are "A Safe Radiation Environment", "A Balanced Marine Environment, Flourishing Coastal Areas and Archipelagos", and "A Non-Toxic Environment", in which connection our responsibilities include investigating sites contaminated by state organizations that no longer exist. SGU is also responsible for decommissioning and making environmentally secure the underground oil storage facilities previously set up as part of Sweden’s civil emergency planning programme, and for the closed Aittik mine.
Read more about how SGU is helping to achieve the environmental objectives
Read more about decommissioning of oil storage facilities
Read more about environmental monitoring
Naturally high levels of harmful substances
Soil and groundwater can sometimes contain dangerously high concentrations of certain elements, such as arsenic, lead and cadmium, as a result of natural processes. Another ‘natural pollutant’ is radon. It is therefore important to study and map where there is a risk of high levels of harmful substances or damaging radiation.
Geological information for environment protection
Read more about how you can use geological information from SGU to protect the environment.
Read more on SGU’s web site
On the Groundwater pages, you will for example find information about the EU’s Water Framework Directive, which affects both our own work and that of other Swedish government agencies.