Use of hierarchical cluster analysis to assess the representativeness of a baseline groundwater quality monitoring network: comparison of New Zealand’s national and regional groundwater monitoring programs

Daughney, Christopher J.; Raiber, Matthias; Moreau, M.; Morgenstern, U.; Van der Raaij, Rob

Use of hierarchical cluster analysis to assess the representativeness of a baseline groundwater quality monitoring network: comparison of New Zealand’s national and regional groundwater monitoring programs | Utilisation d’analyses en réseau hiérarchisé pour évaluer la représentativité d’un référentiel de suivi de qualité de nappe: Comparaison des programmes nationaux et régionaux de surveillance de nappe en Nouvelle Zélande Uso de un análisis de clusters jerárquicos para evaluar la representatividad de una línea de base de las redes de monitoreo de calidad de agua subterránea: Comparación de los programas de monitoreo de agua subterránea nacional y regional en Nueva Zelandia Uso da análise grupal hierárquica para avaliação da representatividade de uma rede de monitorização da qualidade de base da água subterrânea: Comparação dos programas de monitorização nacional e regionais na Nova Zelândia

2012

Daughney, Christopher J. | Raiber, Matthias | Moreau, M. (Magali) | Morgenstern, U. (Uwe) | Van der Raaij, Rob

Baseline monitoring of groundwater quality aims to characterize the ambient condition of the resource and identify spatial or temporal trends. Sites comprising any baseline monitoring network must be selected to provide a representative perspective of groundwater quality across the aquifer(s) of interest. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) has been used as a means of assessing the representativeness of a groundwater quality monitoring network, using example datasets from New Zealand. HCA allows New Zealand’s national and regional monitoring networks to be compared in terms of the number of water-quality categories identified in each network, the hydrochemistry at the centroids of these water-quality categories, the proportions of monitoring sites assigned to each water-quality category, and the range of concentrations for each analyte within each water-quality category. Through the HCA approach, the National Groundwater Monitoring Programme (117 sites) is shown to provide a highly representative perspective of groundwater quality across New Zealand, relative to the amalgamated regional monitoring networks operated by 15 different regional authorities (680 sites have sufficient data for inclusion in HCA). This methodology can be applied to evaluate the representativeness of any subset of monitoring sites taken from a larger network.

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