DIRECTIVE 2006/118/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 12 December 2006 on the prevention and control of groundwater pollution

the determination of threshold values should be based on:

the determination of threshold values should also take account of the origins of the pollutants, their possible natural occurrence, their toxicology and dispersion tendency, their persistence and their bioaccumulation potential;

wherever elevated background levels of substances or ions or their indicators occur due to natural hydro-geological reasons, those background levels in the relevant body of groundwater shall be taken into account when establishing threshold values. When determining background levels, the following principles should be taken into account:

the determination of threshold values should be supported by a control mechanism for the data collected, based on an evaluation of data quality, analytical considerations, and background levels for substances which may occur both naturally and as a result of human activities.

information on each of the bodies or groups of bodies of groundwater characterised as being at risk, including the following:

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 the Member State, or at the level of a body or a group of bodies of groundwater;

the relationship between the threshold values and each of the following:

the methodology for determining background levels based on the principles set out in point 3 of Part A;

the reasons for not having established threshold values for any of the pollutants and indicators identified in Part B;

key elements of the groundwater chemical status assessment, including the level, method and period of aggregation of monitoring results, the definition of the acceptable extent of exceedance, and the method for calculating it, in accordance with Article 4(2)(c)(i) and point 3 of Annex III.

the information collected as part of the characterisation to be carried out in accordance with Article 5 of Directive 2000/60/EC and with Sections 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 of Annex II thereto;

the results of the groundwater monitoring network obtained in accordance with Section 2.4 of Annex V to Directive 2000/60/EC; and

any other relevant information including a comparison of the annual arithmetic mean concentration of the relevant pollutants at a monitoring point with the groundwater quality standards set out in Annex I and with the threshold values referred to in Article 3(1)(b) and (c).

the impact of the pollutants in the body of groundwater;

the amounts and the concentrations of the pollutants being, or likely to be, transferred from the body of groundwater to the associated surface waters or directly dependent terrestrial ecosystems;

the likely impact of the amounts and concentrations of the pollutants transferred to the associated surface waters and directly dependent terrestrial ecosystems;

the extent of any saline or other intrusions into the body of groundwater; and

the risk from pollutants in the body of groundwater to the quality of water abstracted, or intended to be abstracted, from the body of groundwater for human consumption.

in accordance with Section 2.4 of Annex V to Directive 2000/60/EC, the monitoring programme will be so designed as to detect significant and sustained upward trends in concentrations of the pollutants identified pursuant to Article 3 of this Directive;

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

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 Article 13 of Directive 2000/60/EC.

▼M2

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 Annex I and of the threshold values referred to in Article 3(1)(b) and (c), unless:

▼B

For activities falling within the scope of Directive 91/676/EEC, the starting point for implementing measures to reverse significant and sustained upward trends will be established in accordance with that Directive and with Directive 2000/60/EC and, in particular, adhering to environmental objectives for water protection as set out in Article 4 of Directive 2000/60/EC;

once a starting point has been established for a body of groundwater characterised as being at risk in accordance with Section 2.4.4 of Annex V to Directive 2000/60/EC 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 Article 13 of Directive 2000/60/EC;

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