Europe revisits groundwater protection: The proposed groundwater daugther directive

The Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC, adopted in December 2000, provides for a comprehensive framework for the protection of inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater. In basic terms the Directive requires water resources to be managed in an integrated manner at river basin level. The Directive contains a number of provisions relating to groundwater, with the principal objective being the achievement of good chemical status for groundwater by 2015. However, the Directive offers no clear definition of what constitutes such status. In addition, the Directive requires that all significant and sustained upward trends in pollution of groundwater bodies be reversed, but fails to provide any precise definition of what constitutes such a significant upward trend. With such essential components missing, Art. 17 of the Directive requires the European Parliament and the Council to adopt specific measures, acting on a proposal to be presented by the Commission, which can be adopted to prevent and control groundwater pollution by defining common criteria on good chemical status and quality trends. The proposed Directive on the protection of groundwater against pollution (also known as the Groundwater Daughter Directive) ensures that the Commission has met this obligation, whilst also providing measures designed to protect groundwater from indirect pollution.