Groundwater Protection in Selected Countries
1. Background information
| 1.1 | Basic facts |
| 1.2 | Structure of environmental authorities |
| 1.3 | Legislation |
1.1 Basic facts
The United Kingdom has a population of 58,700,000 (1996) and an area of 224,880 km2. This gives a population density of approximately 260 persons pr. km2.
GDP
The gross domestic product (GDP) in England is 712,500 million pounds sterling (quarterly rate for 1995: OECD, 1998). The current exchange rate is approximately 1,5 pounds sterling (GBP) pr. euro (EUR). The annual gross domestic product pr. person is therefore approximately 32,000 EUR.
Precipitation
The total annual rainfall in England varies from 600 mm in the Anglian region in the eastern part of the country to 1,200 mm in the North West region. Even greater variations are found locally (Water Services Association, 1998).
Where the main aquifers crop out in the lowlands of England the potential infiltration is less than 500 mm pr. year and in the extreme east less than 150 mm pr. year (UK Groundwater Forum, 1998).
1.2 Structure of environmental authoritiesThe British Parliament is composed of two chambers, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The most important instrument of the Parliament is the passing of legislation.
DETR
As with other departments, The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) is headed up by a Secretary of State. The Secretary has the power of instruction in relation to the Environment Agency.
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency was established by the Environment Act of 1995 and is composed of a main office in Bristol, and 8 regional offices. It has jurisdiction throughout England and Wales. There are separate Agencies for Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The Environment Agency carries out many of the duties previously relegated to the Inspectorate of Pollution, the National Rivers Authority and local Waste Regulation Authorities. Its powers and duties are set out in the Environment Protection Act of 1990, the Water Resources Act of 1991 and the Environment Act of 1995.
The National Groundwater and Contaminated Land Centre is the primary technical focus within the Environment Agency for groundwater resource management, the protection of groundwater, and the remediation of polluted groundwater and land contamination.
Area Offices
Each of the 8 regions of the Environment Agency is subdivided into area offices. These operating units carry out much of the work related to the regulation of contaminated sites, often in partnership with local authorities.
Figure 1.1 shows the relationship between the various authorities.
Figure 1.1.
Relationship between the various environmental authorities.
With regard to groundwater protection and contaminated sites, the most important legislation is:
1) The Environmental Protection Act, 1990
revised by the insertion of Part IIA from the Environment Act, 1995
(implementation of this revision is expected in December 1999).
Among other subjects, this Act provides for the following:
 | Local authorities shall cause their areas to be inspected for the purpose of identifying contaminated land. These authorities must also designate a subgroup of this contaminated land as "special sites" where serious harm would or might be caused, or if serious pollution of controlled waters would be, or would be likely to be, caused. |
| Local Authorities or the Environment Agency (for special sites) shall serve Remediation Notices to polluters or, if the polluter can not be determined, the present owner of the site. A Remediation Notice requires that contaminated sites are cleaned up, but the authority must have regard to the seriousness of the harm, or pollution of controlled waters in question. |
| The Environment Agency shall prepare and publish a report on the state of contaminated land in England. |
2) Water Resources Act, 1991
Among other subjects, this act provides for the following:
| Abstraction of water from any source of supply requires a licence granted by the Environment Agency. |
| The Environment Agency may serve a Work Notice on problem holders in order that groundwater pollution can be addressed. This Act specifically addresses historic cases in which the link between source-pathway-target has been broken, such as an old spill, where overlying soils bear no trace of the event. |
3) Groundwater Regulations, 1998
These regulations provide for groundwater protection by preventing the granting of an authorisation for activities which may cause the direct or indirect discharge to groundwater of substances on two lists of chemical substances. These regulations do not apply for discharges already covered by pre-existing legislation (e.g. waste licensing controls under the Environmental Protection Act, 1990).