The Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017

PART 4 Monitoring

Monitoring programmes

11.—(1) The Department must maintain and keep under review programmes for monitoring water status in order to establish a coherent and comprehensive overview of water status within each river basin district and the part of each international river basin district falling within Northern Ireland.

(2) The monitoring programmes must—

(a) in relation to surface water cover—

(i) the volume and level or rate of flow to the extent relevant to ecological and chemical status and ecological potential; and

(ii) ecological and chemical status and ecological potential;

(b) in relation to groundwater, cover chemical and quantitative status; and

(c) in relation to protected areas—

(i) cover any supplementary monitoring required by the EU legislation in accordance with which the area is protected;

(ii) provide for the monitoring of each drinking water protected area which provides on average more than 100m³ per day of drinking water intended for human consumption;

(iii) for each shellfish water protected area, enable a reliable assessment to be made of whether the shellfish water objectives have been or will be achieved.

(3) The monitoring programme must comply with the following provisions of Annex V to the Directive—

(a) points 1.3 to 1.3.4 and 1.3.6 (monitoring of ecological status and chemical status for surface waters);

(b) point 1.3.5 (monitoring of drinking water abstraction points and habitats and species protection areas);

(c) points 1.4 to 1.4.3 (classification and presentation of ecological status, chemical status and ecological potential);

(d) points 2.2 to 2.2.4 (monitoring of groundwater quantitative status);

(e) points 2.4 to 2.4.4 (monitoring of groundwater chemical status); and

(f) points 2.4.5 and 2.5 (interpretation and presentation of groundwater status).