S.L. 549.100 Art. 12Programme of measures. S.L. 549.68

(1) The competent authority shall establish a programme of measures for each water catchment district, taking account of the results of the analyses required under regulation 6, in order to achieve the objectives established under regulation 5.

(2) Each programme of measures shall include the "basic" measures specified in sub-regulation (3) hereunder and, where necessary, "supplementary" measures.

(3) "Basic" measures are the minimum requirements to be complied with and shall consist of:

(a) those measures required to implement legislation aimed at the protection of water, including measures required under the legislation specified in regulation 11 and in part A of Schedule VI;

(b) measures deemed appropriate for the purposes of regulation 10;

(c) measures to promote an efficient and sustainable water use in order to avoid compromising the achievement of the objectives specified in regulation 5;

(d) measures to meet the requirements of regulation 8, including measures to safeguard water quality in order to reduce the level of purification treatment required for the production of drinking water;

(e) controls over the abstraction of fresh surface water and groundwater, and impoundment of fresh surface water, including a register or registers of water abstractions and a requirement of prior authorisation for abstraction and impoundment. These controls shall be periodically reviewed and, where necessary, updated. The competent authority can exempt from these controls, abstractions or impoundments which have no significant impact on water status;

(f) controls, including a requirement for prior authorisation of artificial recharge or augmentation of groundwater bodies. The water used may be derived from any surface water or groundwater, provided that the use of the source does not compromise the achievement of the environmental objectives established for the source or the recharged or augmented body of groundwater. These controls shall be periodically reviewed and, where necessary, updated;

(g) for point source discharges liable to cause pollution, a requirement for prior regulation, such as a prohibition on the entry of pollutants into water, or for prior authorisation, or registration based on general binding rules, laying down emission controls for the pollutants concerned, including controls in accordance with regulation 11 or additional legislation. These controls shall be periodically reviewed and, where necessary, updated;

(h) for diffuse sources liable to cause pollution, measures to prevent or control the input of pollutants. Controls may take the form of a requirement for prior regulation, such as a prohibition on the entry of pollutants into water, prior authorisation or registration based on general binding rules where such a requirement is not otherwise provided for under other legislation. These controls shall be periodically reviewed and, where necessary, updated;

(i) for any other significant adverse impacts on the status of water identified under regulation 6 and Schedule II, in particular measures to ensure that the hydromorphological conditions of the bodies of water are consistent with the achievement of the required ecological status or good ecological potential for bodies of water designated as artificial or heavily modified. Controls for this purpose may take the form of a requirement for prior authorisation or registration based on general binding rules where such a requirement is not otherwise provided for under other legislation. Such controls shall be periodically reviewed and, where necessary, updated;

(j) a prohibition of direct discharges of pollutants into groundwater, provided that the competent authority may authorise re-injection into the same aquifer of water used for geothermal purposes. It may also authorise, specifying the conditions for:

(i) injection of water containing substances resulting from the operations for exploration and extraction of hydrocarbons or mining activities, and injection of water for technical reasons, into geological formations from which hydrocarbons or other substances have been extracted or into geological formations which for natural reasons are permanently unsuitable for other purposes. Such injections shall not contain substances other than those resulting from the above operations;

(ii) re-injection of pumped groundwater from mines and quarries or associated with the construction or maintenance of civil engineering works;

(iii) injection of natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for storage purposes into geological formations which for natural reasons are permanently unsuitable for other purposes;

(iv) injection of natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for storage purposes into other geological formations where there is an overriding need for security of gas supply, and where the injection is such as to prevent any present or future danger of deterioration in the quality of any receiving groundwater;

(v) injection of carbon dioxide stream for storage purposes into geological formations which for natural reasons are permanently unsuitable for other purposes, provided that such injection is made in accordance with the Geological Storage of Carbon Dioxide Regulations, or excluded from the applicability of those regulations pursuant to regulation 2(2) of those regulations;

(vi) construction, civil engineering and building works and similar activities on, or in the ground which come into contact with groundwater. For these purposes, the competent authority may determine that such activities are to be treated as having been authorised provided that they are conducted in accordance with general binding rules developed by the same in respect of such activities; and

(vii) discharges of small quantities of substances for scientific purposes for characterisation, protection or remediation of water bodies limited to the amount strictly necessary for the purposes concerned: Provided such discharges do not compromise the achievement of the environmental objectives established for that body of groundwater;

(k) measures to eliminate pollution of surface waters by those substances specified in Schedule X, and to progressively reduce pollution by other substances which would otherwise prevent the achievement of the objectives for the bodies of surface water as set out in regulation 5;

(l) any measure required to prevent significant losses of pollutants from technical installations, and to prevent and, or to reduce the impact of accidental pollution incidents for example as a result of floods, including through systems to detect or give warning of such events including, in the case of accidents which could not reasonably have been foreseen, all appropriate measures to reduce the risk to aquatic ecosystems.

(4) "Supplementary" measures are those measures designed and implemented in addition to the basic measures, with the aim of achieving the objectives established pursuant to regulation 5. Part B of Schedule VI contains a non-exclusive list of such measures. The competent authority may also adopt further supplementary measures in order to provide for additional protection or improvement of the waters covered by these regulations, including the implementation of the relevant international agreements. (5)Where monitoring or other data indicates that the objectives set under regulation 5 for the body of water are unlikely to be achieved, the competent authority shall ensure that:

(a) the causes of the possible failure are investigated,

(b) relevant permits and authorisations are examined and reviewed as appropriate,

(c) the monitoring programmes are reviewed and adjusted as appropriate, and

(d) additional measures as may be necessary in order to achieve those objectives are established, including, as appropriate, the establishment of stricter environmental quality standards following the procedures laid down in Schedule V. Where those causes are the result of circumstances of natural cause or which are exceptional and could not force majeure reasonably have been foreseen, in particular extreme floods and prolonged droughts, the competent authority may determine that additional measures are not practicable, subject to regulation 5(6).

(6) In implementing measures pursuant to sub-regulation (3), the competent authority shall take all appropriate steps not to increase pollution of marine waters. Without prejudice to existing legislation, the application of measures taken pursuant to sub-regulation (3) may on no account lead, either directly or indirectly, to increased pollution of surface waters. This requirement shall not apply where it would result in increased pollution of the environment as a whole.

(7) The programmes of measures shall be established by the end of November 2009 and all the measures shall be made operational by the end of November 2012.

(8) The programmes of measures shall be reviewed, and if necessary updated by the end of November 2015 and every six years thereafter. Any new or revised measures established under an updated programme shall be made operational within three years of their establishment.