Abstract
The European Groundwater Directive could be improved by limiting the scopes of the Annexes I and II to the manmade and natural substances, respectively, and by defining a common monitoring protocol. The changes in the European landuse patterns, in particular the urban sprawl phenomena, obscure the distinction between the point and diffuse sources of contamination. In the future more importance will be given to the household contamination. Moreover, the agricultural environment could be used for developing new conceptual models related to the pharmaceuticals.
Highlights
Groundwater is a source of fresh water for human consumption, irrigation and ecosystem needs, and its protection is a key environmental objective
Annex II contains a minimum list of pollutants and indicators to be provided by Member States for the establishment of threshold values and identifies information on those pollutants and indicators which have been indicated as contributing to the characterization of bodies or groups of bodies of groundwater as being at risk
The Annex I set the environmental quality standards (EQS) according to the regulations being ain force at that time; in particular the nitrate standard was established based on epidemiological studies (WHO, 2011) and the pesticides standard took into account the detection limit of the analytical equipment available at the beginning of the 90 s
Summary
Groundwater is a source of fresh water for human consumption, irrigation and ecosystem needs, and its protection is a key environmental objective. Impacts of land use and climate change have been integrated with the conceptual models of groundwater systems emphasizing on the role of Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems (GDEs). Achievement of this goal has been possible by twining expertise and knowledge gained from case studies on different hydrogeological, land use, and socioeconomic settings. In July 2013, the European Commission opened a public consultation to provide input to the first review of the Directive Annexes. This consultation was intended for stakeholders, experts and practitioners in public authorities involved or interested in the implementation of the GWD. The project addressed the knowledge gaps related to the occurrence and risk assessment for different groundwater contaminants, including the emerging contaminants
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