GWDC

Established in 1978, the UNEP Global Environment Monitoring System for Water (GEMS/Water) aims at improving water quality monitoring and assessment capacity in participating countries. It also aims at determining the state and trends of regional and global water quality based on monitoring data provided by UN Member States and non-governmental organizations.

Within the framework of GEMS/Water, the GEMS/Water Data Centre hosts the global water quality database GEMStat with water quality monitoring data from more than 4000 stations in surface and groundwater bodies in 75 countries. The GWDC provides water quality data and derived products to facilitate regional and global environmental assessment studies and to inform policy and decision making at national and international levels.

The GWDC was established in 2014 within the International Centre for Water Resources and Global Change at the German Federal Institute of Hydrology in Koblenz.