
This web publication by the Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU) updates and replaces the previous report on groundwater quality criteria from 2013. A new feature is the inclusion of maps of the distribution of inorganic substances.
The overall aim in establishing these environmental quality criteria for groundwater has been to enable local and regional authorities, water authorities and others to make assessments of environmental quality based on available data on the state of the environment. Such assessments can then serve as a basis for environmental planning, environmental risk assessments and for the strategic management of environmental resources. The purpose of updating and extending the previous report has been to include more chemical substances in order to enable assessments of a wider range of parameters, notably some of the persistent organic compounds. One important area of use for the quality criteria is in the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) and Groundwater Directive (2006/118/EC). This requires assessments to be carried out of potential threats to water resources, and environmental quality standards (threshold values) to be established for water resources at risk. The environmental quality criteria contained in this report do not have legal force in themselves, but are of assistance in making these assessments and in developing environmental quality standards (threshold values) for individual or groups of groundwater bodies.
The environmental quality criteria for groundwater have been developed utilising a reference database containing data from national and regional environmental monitoring and from other SGU databases. The reference database contains more than 225 000 samples from public and private groundwater wells.
Based on the reference data, environmental quality criteria for groundwater have been established for a wide range of parameters, including substances which occur naturally in groundwater (e.g. uranium) and substances whose presence in groundwater is likely to be the result of human activity (e.g. nitrate and pesticides). For substances which generally occur naturally in groundwater a classification has been made on the basis of a comparison with background values and possible environmental or health effects (1 – Very low, 2 – Low, 3 – Medium, 4 – High, 5 – Very high). Background values are based on the reference database and represent current overall conditions across the country. It should be noted that long-term effects of e.g. airborne pollution affect background values. The web publication also contains general information on each parameter, including background values, possible sources of contamination from human activity, trends and regional differences.
Senast ändrad 2024-02-19