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2.3 Groundwater: Status and pressures

The WFD requires Member States to designate separate groundwater bodies and ensure that each one achieves 'good chemical and quantitative status'[1]. To meet the aim of good chemical status, hazardous substances should be prevented from entering groundwater, and the entry of all other pollutants (e.g. nitrates) should be limited.

Good quantitative status can be achieved by ensuring that the available groundwater resource is not reduced by the long-term annual average rate of abstraction. In addition, impacts on surface water linked with groundwater or groundwater-dependent terrestrial ecosystems should be avoided, as should saline intrusions.

[1] See the specific criteria on chemical and quantitative status in Annex V of the WFD (EU, 2000).