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Groundwater : Requisite Surveillance Monitoring for Agrochemicals Legislative Framework The Groundwater Directive (80/68/EEC) aims to protect groundwater from pollution by certain dangerous substances. These are grouped into List I substances which must be prevented from entering groundwater and List II substances which must be limited from entering groundwater. Any disposal on land or in groundwater of either List I or List II substances, which might lead to a direct or indirect discharge (i.e. having percolated through the ground) must be subject to prior investigation. Based on the findings of this investigation, authorisation to dispose these substances may or may not be granted. The Directive requires that requisite surveillance of groundwater is carried out to ensure compliance. The majority of sheep dip formulations in current use in Scotland contain List I substances. The requirements of the Directive have been transposed into Scottish legislation by The Groundwater Regulations 1998 (SI 1998 No.2746). Establishing and Developing the Network In 2000, the programme for requisite surveillance carried out nationally by SEPA was the following: 1) sampling of the 150 Nitrate Directive sampling locations 2) sampling of all the remaining current public water supply abstractions from groundwater 3) sampling from selected water supplies in the vicinity of Groundwater Regulations authorised disposal sites. The above samples were analysed for the following active ingredients:
The 2001 programme for requisite surveillance was severely curtailed by the outbreak of foot and mouth disease. In August 2001, a national review of the requisite surveillance programme was undertaken. The review identified the need for: 1) the use of GIS to locate sampling locations near to clusters of authorised disposals. 2) sampling to be undertaken twice a year to reflect the spring and autumn sheep dipping seasons. 3) the targeting of sampling for agrochemicals to specific regions. Implementation of this strategy in 2002 resulted in the selection of 78 sampling sites across Scotland to be sampled twice a year. Requisite Surveillance Monitoring Programme 2003 The 76 sites indicated as being monitored for sheep dip and arable agrochemicals in this table are sampled twice a year for the purposes of the Groundwater Regulations 1998 and analysed for the following active ingredients:
Fifteen of the 76 sites have been identified as being located in arable farming areas and therefore are also analysed for an additional agrochemical suite. |
