Date of adoption: 12 December 2006
Entry into force: 16 January 2007 (OJ L 372/19, 27.12.2006)
What are the aims and requirements of the Directive?
As 'daughter' legislation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) (2000/60/EC), the Groundwater Directive strengthens and builds on provisions contained within the WFD relating to groundwater. It complements the earlier directive in aiming to 'to prevent the deterioration of the status of all bodies of groundwater' (Article 1(2)).
In particular, the Directive details the procedure for assessing groundwater chemical status and provides criteria for identifying and preventing significant and sustained upward trends in groundwater pollution.
Definitions and scope of the Directive
The Directive defines 'significant and sustained upward trend' as 'any statistically and environmentally significant increase of concentration of a pollutant, group of pollutants, or indicator of pollution in groundwater' (Article 2(3)).
Member State obligations under the Directive
Member States must set quality standards for groups of pollutants in groundwater by the end of 2008 (Article 3 and Annex II) and carry out assessments of the chemical status of groundwater bodies in accordance with Article 4 and Annex III.
Article 5 provides that significant and sustained upward trends in pollution of groundwater must be identified and reversed where they present a significant risk of harm in the quality of aquatic or terrestrial ecosystems, to human health or to actual or potential legitimate uses of the water environment.
Article 6(1) adds further to the objective of limiting inputs of pollutants into groundwater, already expressed in the WFD. It provides that programmes of measures under the WFD must include (Article 6(1) (a)) measures to prevent the input of any hazardous substances into groundwater and (Article 6(1) (b)) measures to limit inputs of specified, less hazardous, pollutants to prevent deterioration or upward trends in pollution.
Several grounds are given for possible exemption from these measures, including where the input of pollutants is the result of direct discharges authorised under Article 11(3)(j) of the WFD (Article 6(3)(a)) and where 'the consequences of accidents or exceptional circumstances of natural cause could not reasonably have been foreseen, avoided or mitigated' (Article 6(3)(c)).
Key legal issues concerning CCS
While CCS activities would not seem to be primarily affected by provisions in the Groundwater Directive, which are more directly concerned with nitrates and pesticides, injection of CO2 streams could potentially be regulated under Article 6(1)(b), were Member States to decide that CO2 fell within the definition of 'hazardous substance'. However, Article 6(3)(a) of the Directive ensures that the exemptions given to particular activities in Article 11(3) (j) of the WFD also apply to the daughter provisions. This would include the amendment exempting CCS activities made to the WFD by the Directive on the geological storage of carbon dioxide (2009/31/EC) (CCS Directive) (See section concerning WFD).