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European Communities Environmental Objectives (Groundwater) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (S.I. No. 287/2022).

Country
Type of law
Regulation
Source

Abstract
These Regulations amend the European Communities Environmental Objectives (Groundwater) Regulations 2010 (S.I. No. 9 of 2010) (Principal Regulations). Regulation 18 of the Principal Regulations is amended by substituting the following paragraphs for paragraphs (a) and (b): (a) all practicable steps are taken to prevent further deterioration in status and in order not to compromise the achievement of the objectives of these Regulations in other bodies of water not affected by those circumstances; (b) the conditions under which circumstances that are exceptional or that could not reasonably have been foreseen may be declared, including the adoption of the appropriate indicators, are stated in the river basin management plan; .
The Principal Regulations are also amended to what concerns monitoring of ecological status and chemical status by inserting a new Part VA after Part V; this Part requires the Agency to ensure that the groundwater monitoring network established under article 10 of the 2003 Regulations shall comply with the requirements of Articles 7 and 8 of the Water Framework Directive. Groundwater monitoring network. The groundwater monitoring network shall be designed so as to provide a reliable assessment of the quantitative status of all groundwater bodies or groups of bodies including assessment of the available groundwater resource and shall provide a map or maps showing the groundwater monitoring network in the river basin management plan concerned. The Agency shall ensure that the groundwater monitoring network includes sufficient representative monitoring points to estimate the groundwater level in each groundwater body or group of bodies taking into account short and long-term variations in recharge and, in particular for groundwater bodies identified as being at risk of failing to achieve environmental objectives under article 12(1)(a) of the 2003 Regulations and for groundwater bodies within which groundwater flows across a boundary of the State. The Agency shall ensure that the groundwater monitoring network is designed so as to provide a coherent and comprehensive overview of groundwater chemical status within each river basin and to detect the presence of long-term anthropogenically induced upward trends in pollutants. Monitoring carried by the Agency is distinguished among surveillance monitoring (to supplement and validate the impact assessment procedure, and provide information for use in the assessment of long-term trends both as a result of changes in natural conditions and through anthropogenic activity), and operational monitoring (carried in the periods between surveillance monitoring programmes in order to establish the chemical status of all groundwater bodies or groups of bodies determined as being at risk, and establish the presence of any long term anthropogenically induced upward trend in the concentration of any pollutant).
Date of text
Repealed
No
Source language

English

Legislation status
in force
Legislation Amendment
Yes