Division 2.1 Initial characterisation

Member States shall carry out an initial characterisation of all groundwater bodies to assess their uses and the degree to which they are at risk of failing to meet the objectives for each groundwater body under Article 4. Member States may group groundwater bodies together for the purposes of this initial characterisation. This analysis may employ existing hydrological, geological, pedological, land use, discharge, abstraction and other data but shall identify:

• the location and boundaries of the groundwater body or bodies,

• the pressures to which the groundwater body or bodies are liable to be subject including:

  • diffuse sources of pollution

  • point sources of pollution

  • abstraction

  • artificial recharge,

• the general character of the overlying strata in the catchment area from which the groundwater body receives its recharge,

• those groundwater bodies for which there are directly dependent surface water ecosystems or terrestrial ecosystems.