Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2003)550 - Protection of groundwater against pollution - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2003)550 - Protection of groundwater against pollution. |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2003)550  |
| date | 19-09-2003 |
1.1. Groundwater is an important natural resource. It acts as a reservoir from which good quality water can be abstracted for drinking and for use in industry and agriculture. It is also valuable in maintaining wetlands and river flows, acting as a buffer through dry periods. Groundwater moves slowly through the ground and so the impact of human activities may last for a relatively long time. It may be difficult to clean up, even once the source of pollution has been removed, so we need to focus on preventing pollution in the first place. Groundwater provides base flow for surface water systems and so its quality may affect the quality of those surface waters. In other words, the effects of human activity on groundwater quality may impact on the quality of associated aquatic ecosystems and directly dependent terrestrial ecosystems. Groundwater is much more widely present than surface water, so it is even more difficult to prevent pollution, and to monitor and restore water quality.
1.2. In addition to the rules in Directive 80/68/EEC on the protection of groundwater against pollution caused by certain dangerous substances, i groundwater protection is also a feature of the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD), i which is the basic legislation for the protection of Europe's aquatic environment. Article 17 of the WFD requires that on the basis of a proposal from the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council shall adopt specific measures to prevent and control groundwater pollution by defining common criteria on good chemical status and on quality trends. This proposal for a Groundwater Daughter Directive meets that requirement.
Contents
2.1. Groundwater generally flows slowly so takes a long time to carry pollutants from their source. This means that pollution that occurred some decades ago - whether from agriculture, industry or other human activities - may still be threatening groundwater quality. These processes are difficult to observe and measure and so there is often a lack of awareness and/or evidence of the risks of groundwater pollution. Recent reports i, i show that pollution from domestic, agricultural and industrial sources is increasing, either directly through discharges (effluent) or indirectly from the spreading of fertilisers or through leaching from landfill, some of it illegal. While point sources have caused most of the pollution identified to date, there is evidence that diffuse sources are having an increasing impact on groundwater.
2.2. Consequently the prevention of groundwater pollution is of critical importance. It must be a key aim of European legislation for the following reasons:
- Once groundwater has been polluted, the consequences last for longer than surface water pollution (months, years and sometimes decades) because, in most cases, groundwater moves slowly underground. Moreover, it is usually either not practical or else very expensive to clean up the groundwater afterwards. Again, it is both impractical and bad strategy to provide comprehensive treatment to remove certain pollutants, such as pesticides and other organic trace substances. Contaminated drinking water is a health hazard and, once contamination has occurred, drilling new wells is expensive and in many instances not feasible. It is, therefore, preferable to prevent or reduce the risk of pollution rather than to deal with the consequences.
- Groundwater is an important resource, which is used for drinking water, and by industry and agriculture, and should be protected for present and future use.
- Groundwater provides the base flow (i.e. the water which feeds rivers all year round) for surface water systems, many of which are used for water supply and recreation. In many rivers, more than 50% of the annual flow is derived from groundwater, which travels a long way. In low-flow periods in summer, more than 90% of the flow in some rivers may come from groundwater. Hence, deterioration of groundwater quality may directly affect other related aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.
3.1. Rules to protect against groundwater pollution have been in place since the adoption of Directive 80/68/EEC. This Directive provides a protection framework by preventing the direct discharge of high priority pollutants (List I) and subjecting the discharge of other pollutants (List II) to an authorisation procedure preceded by a thorough investigation on a case-by-case basis. Monitoring is required only for those specific cases of authorisation and is not generally required for all groundwater bodies. According to Article 22 i of the WFD, Directive 80/68/EEC should be repealed in 2013, after which the protection regime should be continued through the WFD and the present Groundwater Daughter Directive.
3.2. The WFD requires the achievement of good groundwater status and to that end provides for the monitoring of groundwater bodies as well as measures to protect and restore groundwater. While the WFD provides a general framework for groundwater protection, Article 17 of the Directive provides for the adoption of specific criteria for the assessment of good chemical status and the identification of significant and sustained upward trends and for the definition of starting points for trend reversals.
3.3. Besides the existing groundwater directive (80/68/EEC) and the WFD, groundwater protection also features in other environmental legislation and policies, e.g. the Landfill Directive (99/31/EC), i the Drinking Water Directive (80/778/EEC as amended by Directive 98/83/EC), i the Nitrate Directive (91/676/EEC), i the Plant Protection Products Directive (91/414/EEC), i the Biocides Directive (98/8/EC) i and the Commission Communication Towards a Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection. i
3.4. In addition, groundwater protection affects agricultural production. This is reflected by the cross-reference to Directive 80/68/EEC in the Commission's recent proposals on common rules relating to the review of the Common Agricultural Policy. i Already, Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999 allows Member States to make payments granted directly to farmers under the various common market organisation rules dependent on their compliance with national implementing rules on groundwater protection.
4.1. The debates leading up to final agreement on the Water Framework Directive (which was adopted on 23 October 2000) were difficult and covered very different conceptual approaches to groundwater protection. As it proved impossible to achieve agreement on detailed provisions relating to groundwater, the WFD included a provision, Article 17, stipulating that the European Parliament and the Council shall at a future date and on the basis of a proposal from the Commission, adopt specific measures to prevent and control groundwater pollution. These would include criteria for assessing the good chemical status of groundwater (Article 17.2a), for identifying significant and sustained upward trends, and for defining a starting point for trend reversal (Article 17.2b).
4.2. The Commission initiated a discussion with stakeholders to prepare the proposal referred to in Article 17 i and i of the WFD. It established an Expert Advisory Forum (EAF) on groundwater, made up of representatives of Member States, stakeholders (NGOs, industrial associations and Commission departments) and observers from the Associated and Candidate Countries. The first meeting of the EAF on Groundwater (on 26 November 2001) discussed an issue paper prepared by the Commission and provided guidance on the lines to be followed when developing a legislative proposal on groundwater protection.
4.3. An extended issue paper was presented and discussed at the second meeting of the EAF on Groundwater on 25 and 26 March 2002. The first elements of a legislative proposal for a groundwater directive were presented at the third EAF Groundwater meeting on 25 June 2002, and the main draft outline of the GWD was presented at the fourth EAF Groundwater meeting on 8 October 2002. Overall, the proposal has received a positive response from Member States. NGOs have been more critical with respect to the prevent/limit clauses, which they considered not sufficiently stringent, and did not agree with the proposal of EU wide quality standards on nitrates and pesticides, which they found too lax with respect to agricultural pollution risks. The element of the proposal, which gave rise to the most comment, was the delay in establishing lists of pollutants and thresholds. However, the Commission considers that it is not possible to establish lists at present because there is not enough scientific data.
4.4. The GWD proposal is designed to complement the WFD. This already contains extensive provisions on groundwater, and in particular on:
- co-ordinated administration of river basins (Article 3);
- environmental objectives, in particular the no-deterioration clause and the protect and limit provisions (Article 4);
- requirements for analysing the characteristics of the river basin district, reviewing the environmental impact of human activity and analysing the economics of water use (Article 5);
- establishment of a register of protected areas (Article 6);
- identification of waters for the abstraction of drinking water and the establishment of safeguard zones for those bodies of water (Article 7);
- monitoring requirements (Article 8);
- the principle of recovery of the costs of water services, including environmental and resource costs (Article 9);
- establishment of a programme of measures (Article 11);
- issues which cannot be dealt with at Member State level (Article 12);
- establishment of a management plan for each river basin district (Article 13);
- requirements for public information and consultation (Article 14), which should be complemented by education on good environmental practices;
- reporting requirements (Articles 15 and 18);
- plans for future Community measures (Article 19);
- technical adaptations to scientific and technical progress (Article 20);
- the Regulatory Committee (Article 21);
- repealing clauses and transitional provisions (Article 22);
- penalties (Article 23).
5.1. The proposal for a Groundwater Daughter Directive sets out criteria for assessing the chemical status of groundwater, as required by Article 17.2a of the WFD. It was not considered appropriate to list new quality standards that would be applied uniformly to all groundwater bodies throughout Europe, because of the natural variability of groundwater chemical composition and the present lack of monitoring data and knowledge. This decision was fully in line with the principles of good governance set out in the Sixth Environmental Action Programme, i namely that 'sound scientific knowledge and economic assessments, reliable and up-to-date environmental data and information, and the use of indicators will underpin the drawing-up, implementation and evaluation of environmental policy'. Clearly drinking water quality standards would be of only limited value for assessing groundwater quality, since they are designed to protect human health and are not necessarily appropriate as environmental standards. The only EU-wide quality standards that are directly linked to groundwater protection at this stage are those referring to nitrates (Directive 91/676/EEC), and plant protection and biocidal products (Directive 91/414/EEC and Directive 98/8/EC respectively). These have therefore been included in the proposal.
5.2. A workshop on the BASELINE project held on 27 January 2003 (and funded by DG RTD under the Fifth Framework Programme) stressed the difficulty of setting uniform quality standards for groundwater, and emphasised the need to consider aquifer characteristics and pressures from human activity.
5.3. The present proposal also establishes criteria for identifying and reversing significant and sustained upward trends in pollution from human activity, taking into account the need to prioritise actions according to the environmental significance of these trends. It proposes a common methodology for testing the statistical significance of these trends.
5.4. Groundwater monitoring requirements are covered by the Water Framework Directive and so are not repeated in this Directive.
6.1 The purpose of the Groundwater Daughter Directive (Article 1) is to establish specific measures to prevent and control groundwater pollution. These include special criteria for assessing good chemical status, criteria for identifying significant and sustained upward trends in the concentration of pollutants in groundwater and criteria for defining the starting points for trend reversals.
6.2. Article 2 gives more definitions to supplement the WFD definitions, in particular on threshold values, significant and sustained upward trends and indirect discharges into groundwater.
6.3. Article 3 establishes criteria for the assessment of good groundwater chemical status, specifying the compliance regime for quality standards set out in Annex I to this Directive as well as for threshold values for pollutants, of which requirements are developed in the subsequent article.
6.4. Article 4 provides requirement regarding pollutant threshold values. For groundwater bodies which are considered to be at risk following the analyses of pressures and impact carried out in accordance with Article 5 of the WFD, Member States are to establish threshold values for pollutants, the lists of which are to be reported by Member States at the latest on the 22 June 2006, following the recommendations set out in Annex III to the Directive. The Commission then has to decide whether to propose EU-wide environmental quality standards on the basis of these lists. These criteria will guarantee that chemical status is evaluated in a comparable way throughout Europe and that any related decision-making is harmonised.
6.5. Article 5 sets out specific criteria for identifying significant and sustained upward trends in pollutant concentrations and for defining starting points for trend reversals. There are technical specifications in Annex IV to the Directive.
6.6. Article 6 introduces an additional provision to ensure that groundwater bodies are adequately protected. In the existing groundwater directive (80/68/EEC), there are provisions (Articles 4 and 5) for preventing and limiting the direct and indirect discharge of dangerous substances into groundwater. In the WFD there are general provisions for preventing or limiting the input of pollutants into groundwater and for preventing the deterioration of the status of all bodies of groundwater (Article 4.1(b)(i). In addition, the WFD as part of its basic package of management measures (Article 11) prohibits, with certain exceptions, the direct discharge of pollutants into groundwater. However, the WFD says nothing about indirect discharges of pollutants into groundwater. This means that when Directive 80/68/EEC is repealed there will be no specific legislation on indirect discharges. Accordingly, Article 6 of this new Directive is intended to ensure the continuity of the protection regime established by Directive 80/68/EEC after its repeal by also establishing a link with the list of main pollutants indicated in Annex VIII of the WFD.
6.7. Transitional arrangements (Article 7) ensure continuity of the protection provided by Directive 80/68/EEC as regards prior investigation and authorisation of indirect discharges.
6.8. Based on Article 8, Annexes II to IV to the Directive may be adapted to scientific and technical progress, according to the Committee procedure established in Article 21 of the WFD.
7.1. The Sixth Environmental Action Programme (6EAP) contains some objectives on the management of natural resources. The overall objective is to achieve better resource efficiency and pollution control. It also calls for a number of measures to be adopted to achieve these objectives. One of these is the present Groundwater Daughter Directive, which is also part of the broader water policy framework of the WFD.
7.2. The assessment of chemical status is based on selecting those pollutants that put groundwater at risk and threshold values for those pollutants that take into account the natural variability of European ground waters. This approach is necessary, since at present there is not enough monitoring data and consolidated knowledge. As mentioned in paragraph 5.1, this is fully in line with the principles of good governance set out in the 6EAP.
8.1. Groundwater is a resource under increasing pressure from human activities. But for many people it is 'out of sight, out of mind'. While the need to protect drinking water is well understood because of its environmental value, Member States do not all agree on how to manage groundwater protection. While most Member States support the concept of good groundwater protection, the majority considers assessing chemical status on the basis of compliance with a long list of pan-European quality standards is not the right way to achieve this protection. However, there are some Member States that would like to see EU standards established as soon as possible. Accordingly, the Commission's proposal envisages listing substances for which EU-wide standards for groundwater already exist. For other substances, Member States should establish threshold values based on the criteria in the proposal. In the light of the action taken at national level, the Commission will decide whether it is appropriate to make proposals to extend the list of substances covered by EU standards.
9.1. The proposal is accompanied by an Extended Impact Assessment carried out in the first quarter of 2003. It should be noted that the total quality assessment costs, the costs of the monitoring and clean-up measures required by the river basin management plan, and the administrative costs are already covered under the WFD. The proposed Groundwater Daughter Directive provides clear additional specifications, which should result in a more harmonised approach to defining and monitoring groundwater status than the existing WFD specifications.
9.2. The proposal thus represents a cost/benefit improvement over the existing situation. At present there are no common references (selected pollutants and related thresholds) and no common criteria for groundwater, which makes it difficult to achieve comparable chemical status throughout Europe. This could result in considerable economic losses and risks. If a body of groundwater is wrongly considered to be of poor chemical status, unnecessary restoration measures may be taken, wasting considerable amounts of money. Conversely, if because of the wrong data it is considered to have good chemical status, then evidence of deterioration might be overlooked, together with possible damage to the environment and human health. Any such doubts will not only have adverse effects on decision-making, but will also result in a loss of public confidence.