Government Decision No. HG227/2025 validating the Methodology for the evaluation and classification of the status of groundwater bodies.

This Government Decision defines the objectives of identifying, delineating, assessing and classifying groundwater bodies in order to protect and restore good quantitative and chemical status, and to support associated surface water and terrestrial ecosystems. The Methodology clarifies terminology related to groundwater systems, hydrological and hydrogeological units, monitoring concepts and baseline levels, and establishes that groundwater bodies are the basic management units within river basin districts, including transboundary and deep aquifers where relevant. The text sets detailed criteria and procedures for the identification, delineation and description of groundwater bodies based on geological, hydrogeological and hydrodynamic characteristics, as well as quantitative and qualitative status. It prescribes minimum size thresholds, conditions for smaller units, and rules for horizontal and vertical delineation, including treatment of hydraulically connected aquifers, deep aquifers without ecological relevance, and transboundary bodies. It requires initial and further characterization of groundwater bodies, including data on pressures (diffuse and point pollution, abstractions, artificial recharge), recharge areas, hydrogeological properties, and links to dependent surface water and terrestrial ecosystems. It also introduces coding rules and mandatory and additional attributes for a national database of groundwater bodies. For status assessment, the Methodology establishes a structured testing system for both chemical and quantitative status, based on monitoring data collected under existing regulations. It requires development and use of conceptual models of hydrostructures to understand groundwater–surface water–ecosystem interactions and to interpret monitoring results. Chemical status assessment follows a two-stage procedure: initial comparison of annual mean concentrations with quality standards and threshold values, and, where exceedances occur, a set of specific tests addressing spatial extent of exceedance, saline or other intrusions, impacts on associated surface waters and terrestrial ecosystems, and implications for drinking water abstraction and treatment. Quantitative status assessment is based on tests of water balance, connection with surface waters, impacts on groundwater-dependent terrestrial ecosystems, and saline or other intrusions, with explicit criteria for good status linked to long-term abstraction, water level trends and ecological objectives. The Methodology further regulates aggregation of monitoring data, treatment of uncertainty and confidence levels in status classification, and the integration of chemical and quantitative test results, where the worst outcome determines overall status. It prescribes the preparation of maps showing chemical and quantitative status of each groundwater body, including indications of significant and sustained upward trends in pollutant concentrations and their reversal. Results of assessment and classification form an integral part of river basin management plans. The Act assigns implementation control to the Ministry of Environment, specifies the involvement of the Environment Agency, the public institution “Apele Moldovei”, the State Hydrometeorological Service, basin committees and research institutions, and provides for periodic review and improvement of the Methodology in subsequent river basin planning cycles.