This book details the experiences gained by the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) in a Mediterranean watershed – the Catalan River Basin District – following the launch of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) in the year 2000. Groundwater and coastal water experts present 13 chapters defining tools for water-status assessment specially adapted to Mediterranean conditions. The content of this and the companion volume Experiences from Surface Water Quality Monitoring: The EU Water Framework Directive Implementation in the Catalan River Basin District (Part I) are the result of an excellent collaboration between the ACA and several Catalan universities and research centers to cope with new challenges provided by the WFD monitoring requirements. The volume serves as a useful guide for environmental managers and scientists engaged in other European as well as Non-European river basins.

Environmental Tracers in Subsurface Hydrology synthesizes the research of specialists into a comprehensive review of the application of environmental tracers to the study of soil water and groundwater flow. The book includes chapters which cover ionic tracers, noble gases, chlorofluorocarbons, tritium, chlorine-36, oxygen-18, deuterium, and isotopes of carbon, strontium, sulphur and nitrogen. Applications of the tracers include the estimation of vertical and horizontal groundwater velocities, groundwater recharge rates, inter-aquifer leakage and mixing processes, chemical processes and palaeohydrology. Practicing hydrologists, soil physicists and hydrology professors and students will find the book to be a valuable support in their work.