Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland

2016 No. 119

Environmental Protection

The Groundwater (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016

Made

7th March 2016

Coming into operation

20th June 2016

The Department of the Environment, being a Department designated (1) for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 (2) in relation to the environment, makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred upon it by that section.

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Groundwater (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 and shall come into operation on 20th June 2016.

(2) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(3) applies to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.

Amendments to the Groundwater Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009

2. The Groundwater Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009(4) are amended in accordance with regulations 3 to 5.

Amendment of regulation 2

3. In paragraph (1) of regulation 2 (Interpretation) in the definition of “the Directive” after the word “deterioration” insert “as amended by Commission Directive 2014/80/EU(5)”.

Substitution of regulation 18

4. For regulation 18 (Review of authorisations) substitute—

“Review of authorisations

18.—(1) The Department shall periodically review an authorisation.

(2) The Department shall on review assess compliance with the conditions of an authorisation and the effects on groundwater.

(3) An authorisation may be reviewed at anytime by the Department and where necessary the Department may update the authorisation.

(4) If the conditions of an authorisation are not complied with, enforcement action shall be taken to ensure compliance and, if necessary, revocation of the authorisation.”

Amendment of Schedule

5. In the Schedule (Groundwater Threshold Values) for Table 1 substitute—

“Table 1

Threshold values for assessing groundwater chemical status

Parameter	Unit	To examine if groundwater abstraction is causing saline or other intrusions	>To examine if groundwater is providing a significant contribution to the failure of the environmental objectives of associated surface water bodies	To examine if the quality of groundwater that is abstracted for potable use is deteriorating, possibly resulting in a need for increased purification	To examine the spatial extent of a groundwater body or group of bodies that are exceeding an EU Standard or threshold value
⁽¹⁾ The surface water environmental standards are set out in Schedule 1 to The Water Framework Directive (Classification, Priority Substances and Shellfish Waters) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015(S.R. 2015 No. 351).
⁽²⁾ The “dilution factor” is taken to be the fraction of the average annual river flow derived from groundwater inflows. It can be estimated from established hydrological indices such as the baseflow index, or from the ratio of catchment groundwater recharge to effective precipitation.”
Ammonium	mg/l				0.29
Arsenic	μg/l				7.5
Atrazine	μg/l				0.075
Cadmium	μg/l				3.75
Chloride	mg/l	25
Electrical Conductivity	μS/cm	800		1875
Lead	μg/l				7.5
MCPA	μg/l				0.075
Mecoprop	μg/l				0.075
Mercury	μg/l				0.75
Nitrate (as NO₃₎	mg/l			37.5	37.5
Nitrite	μg/l			375	375
Simazine	μg/l				0.075
Sulphate	mg/l				187.5
Tetrachloroethylene	μg/l			7.5	7.5
Trichloroethylene	μg/l			7.5	7.5
Any pollutant in relation to which a surface water environmental standard has been set⁽¹⁾			0.5 x (surface water standard divided by dilution factor)⁽²⁾

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of the Environment on 7th March 2016

Tim Irwin

A senior officer of the Department of the Environment

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Groundwater Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 (“the Principal Regulations”) in the following ways.

Regulation 2 is amended to take account of amendments made by Commission Directive 2014/80/EU of 20 June 2014 amending Annex II to Directive 2006/118/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of groundwater against pollution and deterioration.

Regulation 18 is substituted to include the provision for the Department to review authorisations at anytime and where necessary update the authorisation irrespective of the date of when the authorisation was granted.

The Schedule is amended to take account of amendments made to Directive 2006/118/EC by Directive 2014/80/EU and to amend the ‘lead’ parameter threshold to bring it in line with the drinking standard set in Directive 98/83/EC of 3 November 1998 on the quality of water intended for human consumption.

(1)

S.I. 2008/301

(2)

1972 c.68

(3)

1954 c. 33 (N.I.)

(4)

S.R. 2009 No. 254 as amended by S.R. 2009 No. 359, S.R. 2011 No. 211 and S.R. 2014 No. 208

(5)

OJ No. L 182, 21.6.2014, p.52