1. WGC – Groundwater Meeting Quantitative Status Guidance 22 April 2008
WGC-2 DG Meeting
WGC – Groundwater Meeting
Quantitative Status Guidance
22 April 2008

2. Document outline Definition of quantitative status
Status comprises three elements:
Overall measure of water balance (abstraction v available resource)
Protection of receptors – surface water and GWDTE
Identification of saline intrusion
Development of a compliance testing framework
Classification tests:
Water Balance/Level (GWB scale)
Surface Water Flow
GWDTE
Saline (and other) Intrusion
Annex: examples/case studies

3. Comments Applying water balance test to large GWBs
New paragraph to be added
Abstraction of spring discharge (SW Test)
Significant damage at a small GWDTE, relative to size of GWB, will lead to whole (large) GWB to be poor status
No change to document

4. Case studies/Next stepsNL CZ
Additional case studies needed to illustrate the application of the guidance in meeting WFD objectives.
Must comply with the template for case studies
Next steps:
Revised draft (early June) and case studies (end June)
Integrate with other guidance documents (Autumn)

6. Comments/proposals Applying water balance test to large GWBs
Proposal: Add paragraph
“Where GWBs cover geographically large areas or comprise different aquifers then it may be appropriate to sub-divide the GWB into smaller representative parts to carry out this test. Each part should be relevant to the objectives for this test. Where GWBs are sub-divided the test should be applied separately to each individual part. The GWB overall status (for this test) will then be the least favourable of the individual component results, providing these results are significant.”

7. Comments/proposals
Significant damage at a small GWDTE, relative to size of GWB, will lead to whole (large) GWB to be poor status.
This is a similar problem to chemical status and reflects the scale at which GWBs have been defined.
This test should only consider GWDTE that are relevant to the WFD objectives
The WFD/GWDD is clear on objectives and this guidance can’t alter definitions/rules for GWB delineation and status.

8. Comments/proposals Abstraction of spring discharge
Proposal: Add paragraph –
“Interception of natural spring flow should not be considered as GW abstraction for this (GW-SW Flow) test. It should instead be considered within SW classification. However, where springs have been artificially modified to enhance/increase GW abstraction, e.g adits constructed, then the increased abstraction should be considered as part of this test.”