THE ENVIRONMENTAL OBJECTIVES REQUIRED BY THE WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE AND THE GROUNDWATER DIRECTIVE, APPLICABLE FOR BANAT HYDROGRAPHICAL AREA Rosu Alina Letitia, Rosca Adrian Ioan National Administration “Apele Romane”, Banat Water Directorate Timisoara, Romania [email protected], [email protected] Abstract The Water Framework Directive is the most substantial piece of water legislation and will provide the major driver for achieving sustainable management of water in the EU Member States for many years to come. It requires that all waters within defined river basin districts must reach at least good status by 2015 and defines how this should be achieved through the establishment of environmental objectives. The components of the Water Framework Directive dealing with groundwater cover a number of different steps for achieving good (quantitative and chemical) status by 2015. Article 17 of the Water Framework Directive includes the strategies to prevent and control pollution of groundwater. The new Groundwater Directive is created for groundwater protection against pollution under the Water Framework Directive. The groundwater directive complements the Water Framework Directive. The new groundwater directive establishes a regime which sets underground water quality standards and introduces measures to prevent or limit inputs of pollutants into groundwater. The directive establishes quality criteria that takes account local characteristics and allows for further improvements to be made based on monitoring data and new scientific knowledge. Member States will have to establish the standards at the most appropriate level and take into account local or regional conditions. For the purposes of assessing the groundwater chemical status in accordance with Article 4, the following groundwater quality standards will be the quality standards referred to in Table 2.3.2 in Annex V to Directive 2000/60/EC and established in accordance with Article 17 of that Directive. The delineation of groundwater body was made only on the area on which exist significant aquifers for water abstraction (water abstraction is higher than 10 m3/day). A body is “at risk” if one of the criteria concerning pressures and/or impact is achieved. If no criteria are achieved then the body is “without risk”. In the case that the data for the evaluation of risk are missing, then the body is considered “possible at risk. The underground water bodies are at risk due to the historical sources, like animal breeding farms which now are not in use any more and also due to actual sources which are located in vulnerable areas. It became obvious the necessity of implementation of the new concept of integrated monitoring of waters with triple integration: of areas and investigation field and also of elements / components which are surveyed: biologic, hydro morphologic and physical-chemical. Like a constant fact in the process of characterisation of waters has to be underlined the lack of data regarding chemical and biological monitoring. The main goal of this analysis is to asses the status of groundwater and to identify if the water bodies “at risk“, which are not going to reach the environmental objectives, could be rehabilitation in order to the environmental objectives established.. Keywords: groundwater bodies, the old Groundwater Directive (80/68/EEC), the new Groundwater Directive (2006/118/EC), protection of groundwater against pollution, environmental objectives 1 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS The Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EEC is the most substantial piece of water legislation ever produced by the European Commission, and will provide the major driver for achieving sustainable management of water in the EU Member. It requires that all inland and coastal waters within defined river basin districts must reach at least good status by 2015 and defines how this should be achieved through the establishment of environmental objectives and ecological targets for surface waters. The result will be a healthy water environment achieved by taking due account of environmental, economic and social considerations. The components of the Water Framework Directive dealing with groundwater cover a number of different steps for achieving good (quantitative and chemical) status by 2015. They require Member States to define groundwater bodies within River Basin Districts to be designated and reported to the European Commission by Member States. They must classify them by analyzing the pressures and impacts of human activity on the quality of groundwater with a view to identifying groundwater bodies presenting a risk of not achieving WFD environmental objectives. The Groundwater Directive (80/68/EEC) was prepared on December 17th, 1979 for the protection of groundwater against pollution caused by certain dangerous substances. This Directive provides a protection framework by preventing the direct discharge of high priority pollutants (List I) and subjecting the discharge of other pollutants (List II). For these issues, prior investigation and an authorization procedure are necessary on a case-by-case basis. Also, monitoring is required only for specific cases and is not generally required for all groundwater bodies. In addition to the rules in Directive 80/68 on the protection of groundwater against pollution caused by certain dangerous substances, groundwater protection is also a feature of the Water Framework Directive (2000/60 - WFD) which is the basic legislation for the protection of Europe’s aquatic environment. Article 17 of the WFD includes the strategies to prevent and control pollution of groundwater. Within this context, the European Parliament and the Council shall adopt specific measures to prevent and control groundwater pollution by defining criteria on good chemical status and on quality trends. The EU “New” Groundwater Directive (2006/118/EC) - is created for groundwater protection against pollution under the Water Framework Directive. The European Commission adopted a proposal for a new Directive to protect groundwater from pollution on 19th September 2003 (COM(2003)550) and finally accepted the directive on December 12, 2006. River Basin Management Plan is the most important tool for the implementation of the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/UE. The Plan for Banat Hydrographical Area, whose goal is the achievement of the “good status” for water until 2015 in order to bring the same conditions of life from the water point of view for all the citizens, has to fit into the Romanian National Management Plan, which will be included into Danube District Management Plan (PMDHD). 1.1. Banat Hydrographical Area and groundwater bodies Banat Hydrographical Area covers a surface of 18,393.15 km2 with a length of the river network of 6,245 km. The relief is characterized by equilibrium between lowlands, mostly developed in the North West of Banat Hydrographical Area, and hilly and mountain areas, developed in South East of the area; with a continental - temperate climate with Mediterranean influences (the mean annual temperature fluctuates between -2°C and 11°C) and mean annual precipitations fluctuate between 600 mm and 1400 mm per year. On about 30% of the river network the drought phenomena are developed and there is an attention about the groundwater sources for drinking. Due to the economical development between 1960 and 1989, the water quality decreased very much comparative with the reference state from 50’s. After 1989, the state of water quality improved due to the decline of socio-economic activities and of appliance of economical mechanism in water field, including “the polluters-pays” principle. The identification and delineation of groundwater bodies was made taking into account the following criteria: • geologic; • hydrodynamic; • the qualitative and quantitative state of water body. The delineation of groundwater body was made only on the area on which exist significant aquifers for water abstraction (water abstraction is higher than 10 m3/day). In the Banat Hydrographical Area 18 groundwater bodies have been delineated, from which 5 are trans-boundary groundwater bodies (Figure no.1). The evaluation of the risk of failure to reach the good status for water bodies take into account the criteria for the identification of pressures and the criteria for the impact evaluation. The evaluation was made considering: • pollution with organic substances; • pollution with nutrients; • pollution with priority substances/dangerous substances; • hydro morphological alterations. The underground water bodies are at risk due to the historical sources, like animal breeding farms which now are not in use any more and also due to actual sources which are located in vulnerable areas. The entire hydrographical area is designated nutrient-sensitive area in concordance with the Position Document agreed between Romania and European Community. The perimeters of 14 localities from Banat Hydrographical Area have been designated as nitrates vulnerable areas from agricultural sources (Figure no.2). The most important municipalities in these areas are: Cenei, Foeni, Gataia, Giarmata, Giulvaz, Jebel, Masloc, Peciu Nou, Periam, Pischia, Sag, Satchinez, Tormac, Uivar. Figure 1. Ground water bodies Figure 2. Nitrates vulnerable areas 1.2. Groundwater Directive 2006/118/EC The new groundwater directive establishes a regime which sets underground water quality standards and introduces measures to prevent or limit inputs of pollutants into groundwater. The directive establishes quality criteria