The Water Environment (River Basin Management Planning: Further Provision) (Scotland) Regulations 2013

Criteria for assessing groundwater chemical status

21.—(1) For the purposes of assessing the chemical status of each body of groundwater (or group of such bodies) under section 8 (monitoring) of the Act, SEPA must use the following criteria—

(a) groundwater quality standards in Annex I to the Groundwater Directive; and

(b) threshold values which the Scottish Ministers direct (in exercise of powers conferred by the Act or any other enactment) SEPA to apply for those purposes.

(2) Threshold values must be established in accordance with Annex II to the Groundwater Directive, based on the protection of the body of groundwater and having particular regard to its impact on, and interrelationship with, associated surface waters and directly dependent terrestrial ecosystems and wetlands and take into account human toxicology and ecotoxicology knowledge.

(3) Where new information indicates that, to protect human health and the environment, a new threshold value should be applied or a threshold value being applied should be revised, SEPA must submit to the Scottish Ministers proposals for a new or revised threshold value to be applied.

(4) The river basin management plan (or the next update of it) must include—

(a) the threshold values which apply for the purposes of paragraph (1);

(b) any changes to those threshold values since the plan was last approved; and

(c) a summary of the information set out in Part C of Annex II to the Groundwater Directive.