Ground Water Directive
(Commission proposal COM (2003) 550)

With the Water Framework Directive, the Ground Water Directive forms part of the European scheme to improve the quality of our water sources. The proposed Directive will ensure that ground water quality is monitored and evaluated across Europe in a harmonised way.

Increasing pollution of ground water sites from industrial and agricultural pollution or from landfill sites is a threat to both the environment and to humankind. The EU Directive on Ground water sets out to improve the quality of our Ground Water by for example, limiting the amount of nitrates or insecticide chemicals found in water. The problem with setting European-wide standards, however, is that due to the natural variability of groundwater chemical composition and the present lack of monitoring knowledge and data, it is not easy to lay down rules, which can apply equally to all bodies of groundwater across the EU.

The Directive was worked out with the help of an Expert Advisory Forum on Groundwater consisting of representatives from the member states, the Commission, NGOs, industrial associations and others.

Under the Water framework directive, member states are required to prevent or limit the input of pollutants into groundwater and to prevent the deterioration of groundwater status and so they are required to implement the Directive into their National legislation. The limit set by the directive to achieve "good ground water status" is 2015.

In addition, Member states must review the impact of human activity on groundwater status and reverse any significant and sustained upward trend in the concentration of pollutants resulting from such impact. In order to do this they must first characterise their groundwater. The proposed new directive is designed to help them do this.