WFD Groundwater Status 2015

Groundwater status consists of both quantitative (the amount of groundwater) and chemical (the quality of groundwater) components. Groundwater levels have been used as one of the measures of quantitative status, using a weight of evidence approach. To achieve good groundwater quantitative status, the available groundwater resource (i.e. the long-term average rate of overall groundwater recharge to the body less the long term annual rate of flow required to achieve the ecological quality objectives for associated surface waters) is not exceeded by the long-term annual average rate of abstraction. Groundwater abstraction must not also cause failure of good ecological status in dependent surface water bodies, significant damage of dependent wetlands (groundwater dependent terrestrial ecosystems) or saline or other intrusions. Groundwater chemical status is measured by concentrations of pollutants and changes in electrical conductivity in the groundwater body such that it: does not exhibit effects of saline or other intrusions; does not exceed the Community quality standards; would not result in failure to achieve the environmental objectives in associated surface waters or terrestrial ecosystems. For further explanations of status used in the attribute table, please refer to WFD Article 2 and Annexes V, VIII and X. This dataset has been downloaded from the Defra Data Services Platform and re-published by The Rivers Trust in ArcGIS online. The data have been enriched with CaBA catchment identifiers for filtering and analysis. Further information is available at environment.data.gov.uk.