Groundwater protection Technical framework of the European policy

Groundwater represents a "hidden resource" whose quantity is far greater than that of surface water, and for which pollution prevention measures, monitoring programs and quality restoration actions are far more complex than for surface water, due to its inaccessibility. This hidden nature makes it difficult to locate and quantify the impact of pollution. Recent reports indicate, however, that pollution of domestic, agricultural and industrial origin is still problematic, despite notable improvements in certain sectors, due to direct discharges (effluents) or indirect discharges (e.g. linked to the dispersion of nitrogenous fertilizers and pesticides, or the leaching of pollutants from industrial sites). While point sources have generated most of the pollution identified to date, diffuse pollution is increasingly highlighted as having a growing impact on groundwater.

European legislation, in particular the Water Framework Directive (WFD), requires the protection of groundwater not only for its quantitative aspects (resource management) and to some extent its chemical aspects, but also for its environmental value. Against this backdrop, the legislative framework establishes environmental objectives for all – surface, coastal, transitional and groundwater – to be met by the end of 2015. This modern component of European legislation sets clear objectives, but allows member states flexibility in implementation. It is based on critical steps such as assessing the risks of pressures and anthropogenic impacts, drawing up monitoring programs, drawing up river basin management plans (the first of which was published in March 2010) and designing and implementing programs of measures. Groundwater is one of the key components of the WFD, which focuses on quantitative and chemical status objectives. The legislation is supplemented by a "daughter directive" which also calls for the implementation of technical aspects. This article provides an overview of European groundwater protection policy, focusing on the operational stages of this policy, in particular risk and impact assessment, monitoring of groundwater status (quality and quantity) and programs of measures to achieve the WFD's "good status" objectives. The article is essentially based on a work by the author , to which the reader is invited to refer for further information.

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