| Knowledge of the groundwater environment is essential to ensure that groundwater is afforded adequate protection for its continued use by its diverse range of consumers. SEPA's Groundwater Monitoring Programme provides the basis of this assessment.
SEPA is in the process of reviewing its monitoring networks with a view to making them suitable for gathering the information required for the Water Framework Directive.
SEPA monitors both groundwater quality and quantity. Information on these monitoring networks are provided below.
Groundwater Quality Monitoring
Since 2000 SEPA has set up national groundwater quality monitoring networks. SEPA has been required to establish groundwater quality monitoring networks to comply with both the Groundwater Regulations and the Nitrates Directive.
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SEPA have established two monitoring networks
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The Groundwater Regulations 1998 have been replaced by the Water Environment (Controlled activities) Regulations 2005 on 1st April 2006. However there is still a requirement to comply with the Groundwater Directive and hence carry out requisite surveillance under these regulations.
Groundwater quality is also measured by other organisations at a wide variety of other sites across Scotland, including public water supply abstraction boreholes, industrial and private supplies, around landfills and contaminated land sites, and as part of research studies.
Groundwater Resource Monitoring
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Until 1st April 2006 there was no abstraction licensing system in Scotland similar to that in other parts of the UK. Therefore, historically without a strong driver for groundwater resource protection, SEPA's groundwater level monitoring network has been limited. |
However the Water Framework Directive, which introduces a requirement for SEPA to consider groundwater quantity as well as quality, will require that this level monitoring network be expanded and reviewed.
As with groundwater quality, groundwater level is also recorded by other organisations at a wide range of additional sites across Scotland, including landfill and contaminated land sites. These measurements are used to inform conceptual model development and to ensure compliance with permit and licence conditions.
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