COMMON IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

1. COMMON IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY Groundwater Monitoring Working Group 2.7

2. Development of guidance Contents agreed May 2002 1st draft produced June 2002 2nd draft produced August 2002 3rd draft produced September 2002 Amendments agreed Final draft produced SCG October 2002 November 2002 Water Directors

3. Chapter 5: Toolbox of techniques and good practice examples Chapter 4: Principles of groundwater monitoring Chapter 2: Common Understanding Structure of guidance

4. Annex II Characterisation and risk assessment Characteristics of body of groundwater, or group of bodies Identification of significant pressures on body of groundwater, or group of bodies Understanding, or conceptual model, of groundwater system Assessment of risks to objectives for body of groundwater, or group of bodies Design of monitoring programmes Selection of bodies, or groups of bodies relevant to each monitoring programme Selection of relevant sites for monitoring in each relevant body, or group of bodies Selection of relevant parameters for each selected site How to design monitoring programmes Relevant objectives for body of groundwater, or group of bodies Selection of relevant frequency for each monitored parameter

5. Objectives and Article 17 • Guidance focused on surface ecosystem and intrusion requirements of good status • May need revision if additional criteria for the assessment of groundwater status are established • Recommends that Member States should decide, using their own criteria, whether a trend is significant and sustained…. • …..until Community criteria are established under Article 17 • Does not provide specific monitoring guidance in relation to the “prevent or limit inputs of pollutants” objective

6. Important to allow sufficient time for: • The assessments needed to establish effective monitoring programmes; and • Budgeting for, and construction of, any new monitoring stations Timing • Monitoring programmes must be made operational by the end of 2006 • Assessments needed to design the programmes should already have started

7. Types of monitoring Annex II analyses • Identify water bodies • Characterise bodies • Identify pressures • Collate existing monitoring data Assess risk to objectives Design surveillance monitoring programme Design quantitative monitoring programme Design operational monitoring programme • Improve characterisation • Improve knowledge of pressures • Collate new monitoring data Monitor Monitor Monitor Revise design of programme Revise design of programme Improve assessments Revise design of programme Classify Chemical Status Classify Quantitative Status Establish presence of significant trends Classify status of groundwater bodies Publish maps of status and pollutant trends in River Basin Management Plans

8. First river basin plans will tend to rely on surveillance monitoring information for chemical status classification Amount of monitoring Proportional to the difficulty in judging: • The status of a body, or group of bodies; and • The presence of significant upward trends; and to • The implications of errors in such judgements Confidence achieved should be reported in river basin plans

9. Key role in validating the Annex II characterisation and risk assessment procedure Roles of surveillance monitoring • Specified for bodies, or groups of bodies, identified as being at risk of failing good status or having significant upward trends in pollutant concentrations • Suitable validation monitoring will also be required for bodies, or groups of bodies, not identified as being at risk For example, using indicators of pressures which may be affecting bodies but which have not been identified as causing a risk to the objectives

10. Guidance sets out the principles for designing cost-effective groundwater monitoring programmes, which take into account: The characteristics of bodies of groundwater; The pressures on those bodies; and The confidence required in the assessments Summary • The principles are relevant to any risk-targeted groundwater monitoring regime • However, the guidance may need to be updated once the daughter directive has been established • The toolbox is intended to be a “living document”, providing advice on specific techniques. It can therefore be easily updated