Monitoring

To ensure that Scotland’s groundwater supplies are adequately protected, SEPA’s groundwater monitoring networks monitor quality and quantity.

In order to comply the Groundwater Regulations and the Nitrates Directive, SEPA established national groundwater quality monitoring networks in 2000:

• nitrate monitoring network
• requisite surveillance monitoring network

Note: although the Groundwater Regulations 1998 were replaced by the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (now superseded by the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011), there is still a requirement to comply with the Groundwater Directive and hence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.

Until 2006, SEPA had no power to control abstractions from the water environment in Scotland, therefore, without a strong driver for groundwater resource protection, SEPA's groundwater level monitoring network has been limited, until now.

The level monitoring network has been expanded and reviewed following the introduction of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) which requires SEPA to consider groundwater quantity as well as quality.

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.