Background
9.1 The document sets out the Commission's proposals for an action programme for
integrated ground water protection and management in response to a Environment Council Resolution
of 25 February 1992. It would revise the existing ground water Directive[15].
The proposal
9.2 The Commission set out ideas for the enhanced protection of ground water. It
draws attention to problems on both the quality and quantity of water resources because of economic
development and the slow recovery rate of ground water resources if they are over exploited or
polluted. It cites the Hague Ministerial Seminar to justify action and the objective of
sustainability to justify an integrated approach to be implemented at national and Community level.
The Commission has already proposed a Water Resource Framework Directive in which provisions for
management of ground water will be included[16]. This was
debated on 3 July 1996 in European Standing Committee A. It is not clear precisely how the
framework directive on water resources and the proposals in this document for an action programme
for integrated ground water protection and management will inter-relate. The Commission indicates
that, in close co-operation with Member States, it will undertake the development and use of
economic instruments as well as voluntary agreements and other non-legal instruments (research and
development) to encourage reduced water consuming technologies and practices and to develop methods
for mapping, monitoring and defining ground water vulnerability.
9.3 The four main lines of the action programme which the Council is asked to endorse
are as follows:
"-- Development of Community principles for integrated planning and
management of water protection and use for application on a national and sub-national level with
respect to a long term view of applying a river basin management approach to ground water management
in order to ensure the quality and quantity of ground water.
"-- Ensuring rules for quantitative maintenance of fresh water
resources, including a rational regulatory framework for fresh water abstraction.
"-- Development of instruments for control of ground water pollution
from diffuse sources, including codes of good practice, and consideration of longer term measures
for further integration of sustainable water protection and management and agriculture policy.
"-- Development of instruments for control of point source emissions
and discharges, including a rational regulatory framework and incentives for development of
environmentally friendly production processes and procedures.
"These four lines of action should be supported by research and development
programmes at the level of the Community as well as appropriate national initiatives where necessary
(e.g. relating to vulnerability, leaching of pollutants, acidification, and to further development
of methodologies for assessing critical loads, management strategies etc). Monitoring of water
quality and quantity and establishment of a thorough and reliable basis of information on the state
of the aquatic environment should be seen as indispensable for the success of the national action
programmes."
The Government's view
9.4 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 24 October 1996 the Parliamentary
Under-Secretary of State at the Department of the Environment (Mr Clappison) points out that
"To the extent that the GWAP[17] would set
objectives to be adopted by Member States, the proposal goes beyond the powers conferred on the
Community by Article 130s(3) of the Treaty of Rome. So far as the UK is concerned the protection
of ground water has no trans-boundary or single market aspects. Given that a basic level of ground
water protection is intended by the Ground Water Directive, and that this protection would be
sustained in the forthcoming water resources framework directive, there is some doubt about whether
further Community action is now required to achieve the objectives of the proposed programme."
He adds that there is a need to avoid the imposition of inappropriate or unnecessary
statutory requirements and that a prescriptive Community régime would not be justified.
9.5 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary emphasises that the Government is committed
to proper protection of ground water from pollution and has no difficulty with many of the
Commission's proposals. However, he considers that there is a need for these to be evaluated for
their cost effectiveness, particularly because a number of proposals within the action programme
might have effects on agriculture. In particular, the Government is concerned about the need for
and practicality of proposals within the action programme to bring all ground water up to the
standard of drinking water within a specified time scale. He indicates that further information
is being sought from the Commission about the consequences of using economic instruments to reduce
the use of certain fertilizers, and on the proposal to instigate a blanket prohibition on the
emission of hazardous substances into ground water, because these provisions go beyond those of the
existing ground water directive.
Conclusion
9.6 We share the Government's concern about the proposed use of powers provided
in Article 130s(3). General action programmes should set out priority objectives and should not
impose specific obligations on Member States. We are also concerned about the lack of any costing
of the provisions and the problems which could be created for a wide range of industries, including
agriculture. We note that the proposals on an overall water policy have not yet been decided. It
is therefore difficult to see how the ground water action programme would fit within them. On the
risk assessment and scientific justification, we see that the action programme proposes no
quantitative standards which are open to scientific assessment. The objective of drinking water
standards as a target for the restoration of polluted water would need to have very clear costing
before it could be considered as a policy objective. We note that the Government will be
considering the practicality and benefits of applying drinking water standards to ground
water.
9.7 There are a number of questions which need to be answered before the ground
water action programme could be endorsed. A key point is whether it is necessary to have a separate
action policy when the Commission is committed to an overall water policy, of which this would form
part. Does the action programme overstep the powers in Article 130s(3) in setting objectives to
be adopted by Member States? If there are no trans-boundary or single market aspects Member States
should form their own assessment of the benefits and costs of necessary action. We note that the
Government intends to request further information from the Commission on the economic consequences
of some of the proposals. We suggest that the Commission should also be asked to explain how this
action programme will fit within the water policy proposals (which have already been debated in
European Standing Committee A). In the light of this information we will consider whether a further
debate should be recommended.
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