S.I. No. 9/2010 - European Communities Environmental Objectives (Groundwater) Regulations 2010

Part B Minimum list of pollutants and their indicators for which the Agency must consider when establishing threshold values in accordance with Regulations 48 to 52 of these Regulations

1) Substances or ions or indicators which may occur both naturally and/or as a result of human activities:

Arsenic

Cadmium

Lead

Mercury

Ammonium

Chloride

Sulphate

2) Man-made synthetic substances:

Trichloroethylene

Tetrachloroethylene

3) Parameters indicative of saline or other intrusions ( ³ ):

1 With regard to saline concentrations resulting from human activities, the Agency may decide to establish threshold values either for sulphate and chloride or for conductivity.

Conductivity

Part C Information to be provided by the Agency with regard to the pollutants and their indicators for which threshold values have been established

The Agency shall provide to the Minister and the coordinating local authority of each river basin district a summary of the way the procedure set out in Part A of this Schedule has been followed for inclusion in the river basin management plans to be submitted in accordance with Regulation 13 of the 2003 Regulations.

In particular, the Agency will provide, where feasible:

• (a) information on the number of bodies or groups of bodies of groundwater characterised as being at risk and on the pollutants and indicators of pollution which contribute to this classification, including the observed concentrations/values;

• (b) information on each of the bodies of groundwater characterised as being at risk, in particular the size of the bodies, the relationship between the bodies of groundwater and the associated surface waters and directly dependent terrestrial ecosystems, and, in the case of naturally-occurring substances, the natural background levels in the bodies of groundwater;

• (c) the threshold values, whether they apply at the national level, at the level of the river basin district or the part of the international river basin district falling within the territory of Ireland, or at the level of a body or a group of bodies of groundwater;

• (d) the relationship between the threshold values and:

• (i) in the case of naturally-occurring substances, the observed background levels,

• (ii) the environmental quality objectives and other standards for water protection that exist at national, Community or international level, and

• (iii) any relevant information concerning the toxicology, eco-toxicology, persistence, bioaccumulation potential, and dispersion tendency of the pollutants.

SCHEDULE 7 Test procedures for assigning chemical status to groundwater bodies

The following five tests shall be applied, where applicable, to assess groundwater body chemical status; these are summarised below.

Table 1: Assessment for the presence of saline or other intrusions (test 1)

This is a common assessment for groundwater chemical status and groundwater quantitative status.

Table 2: Assessment of adverse impacts of the chemical inputs from groundwater on associated surface water bodies (test 2)

Table 3: Assessment of adverse impacts of groundwater on groundwater dependent terrestrial ecosystems (wetlands) included in the register of protected areas established under Regulation 8 of the 2003 Regulations (test 3)

Table 4: Assessment of whether the quality of untreated groundwater satisfies the drinking water protected areas requirements (test 4)

Table 5: Assessment of the general quality of groundwater in the body in terms of whether its ability to support human uses has been significantly impaired by pollution (test 5)

SCHEDULE 8 Identification and reversal of significant and sustained upward trends

Part A Identification of significant and sustained upward trends

The Agency will identify significant and sustained upward trends in all bodies or groups of bodies of groundwater that are characterised as being at risk in accordance with Regulation 7 of the 2003 Regulations, taking into account the following requirements:

1) in accordance with Regulation 10 of the 2003 Regulations, the monitoring programme will be so designed as to detect significant and sustained upward trends in concentrations of the pollutants identified pursuant to Regulation 40 of these Regulations;

2) the procedure for the identification of significant and sustained upward trends will be based on the following elements:

• (a) monitoring frequencies and monitoring locations will be selected such as are sufficient to:

• (i) provide the information necessary to ensure that such upward trends can be distinguished from natural variation with an adequate level of confidence and precision,

• (ii) enable such upward trends to be identified in sufficient time to allow measures to be implemented in order to prevent, or at least mitigate as far as practicable, environmentally significant detrimental changes in groundwater quality. This identification will be carried out as soon as possible, and will take into account existing data, in the context of the report on trend identification within the first river basin management plan referred to in Regulation 13 of the 2003 Regulations, and at least every six years thereafter,

• (iii) take into account the physical and chemical temporal characteristics of the body of groundwater, including groundwater flow conditions and recharge rates and percolation time through soil or subsoil;

• (b) the methods of monitoring and analysis used will conform to international quality control principles, including, if relevant, CEN or national standardised methods, to ensure equivalent scientific quality and comparability of the data provided;

• (c) the assessment will be based on a statistical method, such as regression analysis, for trend analysis in time series of individual monitoring points;

• (d) in order to avoid bias in trend identification, all measurements below the quantification limit will be set to half of the value of the highest quantification limit occurring in time series, except for total pesticides;

3) the identification of significant and sustained upward trends in the concentrations of substances which occur both naturally and as a result of human activities will consider the baseline levels and, where such data are available, the data collected before the start of the monitoring programme in order to report on trend identification within the first river basin management plan referred to in Regulation 13 of the 2003 Regulations.

Part B Starting points for trend reversals

The relevant public authorities, in the context of their functions, will reverse identified significant and sustained upward trends, in accordance with Regulations 53 to 56 of these Regulations, taking into account the following requirements:

1) the starting point for implementing measures to reverse significant and sustained upward trends will be when the concentration of the pollutant reaches 75% of the parametric values of the groundwater quality standards set out in Schedule 4 of these Regulations and of the threshold values set out in Schedule 5 of these Regulations, unless:

• (a) an earlier starting point is required to enable trend reversal measures to prevent most cost-effectively, or at least mitigate as far as possible, any environmentally significant detrimental changes in groundwater quality;

• (b) a different starting point is justified where the detection limit does not allow for establishing the presence of a trend at 75% of the parametric values; or

• (c) the rate of increase and the reversibility of the trend are such that a later starting point for trend reversal measures would still enable such measures to prevent most cost-effectively, or at least mitigate as far as possible, any environmentally significant detrimental changes in groundwater quality. Such later starting point may not lead to any delay in achieving the deadline for the environmental objectives.

For activities falling within the scope of the 2009 Regulations, the starting point for implementing measures to reverse significant and sustained upward trends will be established in accordance with those Regulations and with the 2003 Regulations and, in particular, adhering to environmental objectives for water protection as set out in Regulation 12 of the 2003 Regulations, and as amended by the 2008 Regulations;

2) once a starting point has been established for a body of groundwater characterised as being at risk in accordance with Regulation 7 of the 2003 Regulations and pursuant to point 1 above, it will not be changed during the six-year cycle of the river basin management plan required in accordance with Regulation 13 of the 2003 Regulations;

3) trend reversals will be demonstrated, taking into account relevant monitoring provisions contained in Part A, point 2.

GIVEN under my Official Seal,

20th January 2010.

JOHN GORMLEY,

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation).

These Regulations establish a new strengthened regime for the protection of groundwater by giving effect to the measures needed to achieve the environmental objectives established for groundwater by Directive 2000/60/EC and by giving effect to the requirements of Directive 2006/118/EC. The Regulations establish clear environmental objectives to be achieved in groundwater bodies within specified timeframes and introduce the legal basis for a more flexible, proportionate and risk-based approach to implementing the legal obligation to prevent or limit inputs of pollutants into groundwater, which already exists under Directive 80/68/EEC. Measures for this purpose include the following:

• •measures to prevent or limit the input of pollutants into groundwater and to prevent the deterioration of the status of all bodies of groundwater

• •measures to protect, enhance and restore all bodies of groundwater and to ensure a balance between abstraction and recharge of groundwater, with the aim of achieving good groundwater within a particular timeframe

• •measures requiring the reversal of any significant and sustained upward trend in the concentration of any pollutant resulting from the impact of human activity in order to progressively reduce pollution of groundwater

• •measures for determining groundwater quantitative and chemical status

• •measures establishing procedures for the identification of significant and sustained upward trends and the definition of the starting point for trend reversal

• •the laying down of rules for the presentation and reporting of groundwater monitoring results, trend assessments and the classification of quantitative status and chemical status of groundwater bodies

These Regulations revoke the Local Government (Water Pollution) (Amendment) Regulations 1999 ( S.I. No. 42 of 1999 ) from 2013.

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