Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) Regulations 2015 (S.I. No. 810 of 2015).

The Regulations apply in England and in specified marine waters and the seabed. They specify the types of damage to a protected species or natural habitat, a site of special scientific interest, water or land which constitute “environmental damage” for the purposes of the Regulations and the types of activity causing environmental damage to which the Regulations apply. There are certain exemptions and exclusions from the application of the Regulations. The Regulations also specify the authorities whose function it is to enforce the Regulations. Environmental damage to groundwater means any damage to a body of groundwater such that its conductivity, level or concentration of pollutants changes sufficiently to lower its status for the purposes of Directive 2000/60/EC (and, in relation to pollutants, for the purposes of Directive 2006/118/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of groundwater against pollution and deterioration, whether or not the body of groundwater is in fact reclassified as being of lower status.