As a basis for decisions about state activities w.r.t. monitoring and surveillance of groundwater quality a number of alternative or complementary network designs were considered. This resulted in the recommendation to supplement the local surveillance and the large scale ''representative'' networks by intensely studied areas with long-term observations. Such an area was selected near and including Karlsruhe. Extensive measurements of groundwater quality were performed. Analytical and sampling methods were tested. The sampling process was investigated with the help of numerical models. Data were analyzed by kriging, cluster analysis and rules induction procedures in order to obtain information about suitable parameter programs depending on ...