Beoordeling van de grondwatertoestand op basis van de Kaderrichtlijn Water.

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires that all inland and coastal waters must reach a good chemical and ecological status by 2015. According to Annex V of the WFD, groundwater should not only meet its own environmental objectives, ensuring "sufficient water of good quality", but also the objectives for the ecosystems affected by groundwater seepage. Groundwater may not have a negative influence on associated surface waters and groundwater-dependent terrestrial ecosystems. This report presents an assessment system to determine when the status of the groundwater fails to meet the WFD objectives for the surface waters and terrestrial ecosystems which are directly associated with the groundwater body. In the assessment, the monitoring data available on the status of the groundwater and the associated surface water and terrestrial ecosystems are compared to the objectives which have been achieved for these systems. The environmental objectives for surface water and terrestrial ecosystems in a number of regions will most likely not be met due to groundwater drawdown and the drainage of, for example, nutrients, pesticides and heavy metals. Current polices on manure and fertilizer application, water drawdown and sanitation, including those of WFD, will improve the present groundwater situation. This report also presents an overview of the eco-hydrological relations of a large number of ecologically valuable Dutch landscapes as well as the potential threats to these landscapes when the groundwater system is adversely affected. This information is essential for the management of nature reserves in the Netherlands.