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Title: Dangerous Substances in Water 8068EEC Case studies

1
Dangerous Substances in Water (80/68/EEC) Case
studies

Juhani Gustafsson
Finnish Environment Institute, SYKE

2
Content

Implementation of the directive (80/68/EEC) in
Finland
Groundwater issues in Finnish legislation
Institutional aspects
Finnish groundwater areas
Classification of groundwater areas
Case I
Recharge of artificial groundwater
An artificial groundwater intake in Tuusula
municipality
The permit procedure
The decision of the environmental permit agency
Case II
Petrol station
Case III
Pesticides
Conclusions

3
Implementation of the directive (80/68/EEC) in
Finland

A national workgroup was established to study the
impacts of the Directive on the Finnish
legislation
As a conclusion the group stated that the Finnish
legislation concerning discharges of harmful
substances into groundwater was stricter than the
directive (80/68/EEC)
A few modifications to the prevailing legislation
were proposed and the Government Decision on the
Protection of Ground Water Against Pollution
Caused by Certain Dangerous Substances was given.
Because all discharges to groundwater were
prohibited already in the Finnish Water Act
(Environment Protection Act) there was no need to
establish a permit system for discharges into
groundwater.

4
Groundwater issues in Finnish legislation

The Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) sets
the framework and objectives for water protection
in Finland.
Groundwater issues are mainly regulated through
the Water Act and the Environmental Protection
Act.
A good groundwater chemical status is safeguarded
by means of the prohibition against groundwater
pollution laid down in Section 8 of the
Environmental Protection Act. Under this
regulation, no substance shall be deposited in or
energy conducted to a place or handled in a way
that
groundwater may become hazardous to health or its
quality otherwise deteriorate in areas important
for water supply or otherwise suitable for such
use
groundwater on the property of another may become
hazardous to health or otherwise unsuitable for
usage or
the said action may otherwise violate the public
or private good by affecting the quality of
groundwater
The prohibition on groundwater pollution means
that a permit may not be granted for an activity
which does not conform to this regulation. There
is obligation by law for remediation of polluted
groundwater and the polluter is considered
responsible.

5
Institutional aspects

The Ministry of the Environment
is responsible for environment policies,
preparation of the environmental legislation and
the guidance of environmental administration.
regional environment centres (13)
take care of issues related to environmental
protection, land use, building, nature
conservation, protection of the cultural
environment, and the management and use of water
resources.
the environmental permit agencies (3) and
decide on the most important environmental
permits and the permits under the Water Act. They
also handle most compensation issues emanating
from water pollution.

the Finnish Environment Institute, SYKE
is the governmental research and development
centre of the environment. It provides expert
services for the environment administration, the
citizens, and business and industry. SYKE is also
responsible for the national groundwater
monitoring network and maintains GIS databases on
groundwater.
The Finnish Environment Institute and 13 Regional
Environment Centres undertake water resources
tasks under the guidance of the Ministry of
Agriculture and Forestry and The Ministry of the
Environment
The municipalities and towns, numbering about
450, are local authorities in charge of
environmental issues including groundwater
issues. They are also responsible for arranging
water supply and planning the overall development
of water services
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health is the
authority responsible for the quality of potable
water

7
Finnish groundwater areas

Finnish aquifers are mainly shallow and
unconfined, located in eskers or ice marginal
formations.
Finnish groundwater areas (aquifers) were mapped
in 19881996
The determination of the outer boundaries of
groundwater area were based on the subsoil and
the conceptual types of formations
The boundary of the recharge area (high
vulnerability) was based on the permeability of
subsoil, which should be equal to fine sand or
higher
Information collected on the
location of aquifers, hydrogeology of these
areas, suitability for water supply, quality of
groundwater, possible risk activities and
contaminated sites (industry, roads,
depositories, farming, gravel extraction sites
etc.)
The inventory was based on
earlier studies, maps of subsoil and field work
focused on checking the estimated borderlines and
the material of the formations
The data collected throughout the project is
stored in a database

8
Classification of groundwater areas

The classification is based on the suitability
for water supply and vulnerability of the area
Groundwater area important for water supply
class I
water extracted from the area is used by a water
works which supplies at least for 10 or more
households (approximately 50 persons)
Groundwater area suitable for water supply
class II
area is suitable for water supply, but for the
time being, is needed neither for the municipal
water supply nor for households in the sparsely
populated areas
Other groundwater area class III
further studies are needed to find out the
suitability of the area for water supply

9
Case I Recharge of artificial groundwater

The legislation related to recharge of artificial
groundwater is included in the Finnish Water Act
and Water Decree
The extraction of groundwater needs a permit if
the amount of groundwater extracted is more than
250 m3/day.
If the waterworks has a pre-treatment of the
recharged water it will need a environmental
permit also.
All waterworks having a recharge of artificial
groundwater are obligated to make an official
notice based to the environment protection act.
The Environmental Permit Agencies grants the
permits of groundwater extraction

10
An artificial groundwater intake in Tuusula
municipality

The waterworks is situated in groundwater area
classified important for water supply
The aquifer is a glasiofluvial esker, which is
approximately 4 km long. The material is coarse
sand and gravel. The total area is 1,5 km2 and
the estimated natural yield is 2000 m3/day. In
the regional and master plan a part of the
groundwater area is defined as valuable in the
basis of the landscape.
There is hydrologic connection between the
aquifer and the surface water through the high
permeable sediments in the shoreline (Lake
Rusutjärvi).
In the vicinity of the recharge area the are
farms and residential areas with private wells.
The total amount of water to be extracted from
the aquifer will be 20 000 m3/d. The waterworks
will distribute water to four municipalities,
totally to over 100 000 inhabitants.
The surface water to be recharged is taken from
the Päijänne -tunnel. (a water tunnel in bedrock,
which provides water to the capital city area.)

11
The permit procedure

In accordance with the Finnish Water Degree the
applicant (waterworks) have to submit a
attachment where is explained
the background information
the present situation of the water supply on the
area
the purpose of the recharge of artificial
groundwater and the amount of water needed
the description of the project
hydrogeology of the area
recharge and intake arrangements
implementation of the project and costs
the possible impacts to the environment
the description of the possible harmful impacts
and damages
juridical requirements
Environmental assessment procedure should be
applied when the recharge of artificial
groundwater consist large amounts of water or/and
the possible effects of the activity are expected
to be extensive.

In this case the waterworks applied a preliminary
permit for a fixed-period to test the capacity
and possible effects of the recharge. The permit
was granted by the Water Court (abolished,
nowadays environmental permit agency) and
reinforced by the Water Court of Appeal (nowadays
Administrative Court)
The waterworks applied the final permit after
approximately four years the preliminary permit
was granted.
A flow model of groundwater conditions was made
to simulate the process and the possible impacts
of the recharge and increased water extraction
A few claims were made to the application
The environment centre of Uusimaa reminded that
the monitoring data collected during these four
year have not been applied profoundly enough to
improve the model
Some residents in the vicinity of the waterworks
have claimed that the extraction of water might
have a effect on the quality and quantity of
groundwater in their wells and their premises

13
The decision of the environmental permit agency

The permit was granted on the basis of that
the recharge of artificial groundwater and the
extraction of groundwater do not cause any
prohibited impact stated in the Water Act.
The extraction of groundwater is necessitated by
the public interest
The extraction of water stipulated in the permit
do not cause any harm to the settlement,
occupation or environment
The permit regulations
The waterworks may not extract groundwater more
than 20 000 m3 per day calculated in monthly
average.
The holder of the permit (waterworks) is
responsible for the recharge of the artificial
groundwater and the extraction of water and for
the possible damages and harms caused by the
activity
The waterworks will have to monitor the effects
of the recharge artificial groundwater and the
extraction of groundwater on the groundwater
conditions. The environment centre of Uusimaa
will approve the monitoring programme. The
results of the monitoring shall be sent to the
environment centre.

14
Monitoring programme

The waterworks is responsible for the monitoring.
The programme is approved by the environment
centre of Uusimaa.
The programme contains monitorings of
The amounts of water
distributed to the network
the total amount of surface water recharged into
groundwater in each recharge areas
the amount of extracted groundwater from each of
the production wells (artificial groundwater)
The groundwater levels
the level of groundwater is measured daily from
two monitoring points
from 16 ( 2 new tubes) monitoring tubes once a
week during the first three months and thereafter
once a month
The water level of Lake Rusutjärvi
once a day, results are compared with the
groundwater levels

The groundwater quality
the samples are taken from each of the six
production wells and from 4 monitoring tubes 4
times a year
The quality of the artificially recharged water
The recharged water (surface water) is taken from
the Päijänne tunnel, which provides water for
the capital city area. The water supply in the
capital city area is run by a water company,
which is also responsible for the monitoring.
The water samples are taken once a month
The water quality in Lake Rusutjärvi
In summer water samples are taken once in three
weeks, the rest of the year once a month.

16
Case II Petrol station

The property of petrol station is located on a
groundwater area classified important for water
supply (class I) and in the safeguard zone of a
water intake.
The petrol station situated on the location since
year 1965. The zone provision in the town plan
enabled the activity until a new permit was
required.
The permit was to be renewed based on the
Environmental protection act
in accordance to the act a environmental permit
is needed for a petrol station.
The activity may cause a risk to groundwater.
The Ministry Trade and Industry has defined the
new technical standards for the environmental
safety of the petrol stations in 1998. The
amendments should have been carried out by the
end of year 2002.

The new environmental permit concerned the
alterations to be done at the site stated in the
decisions of The Ministry Trade and Industry and
to enlarge the volume of the underground tanks
(74 m3 -gt 120 m3)
An application for an environmental permit was
sent to the authority in this case the permit
authority is the municipality
The environment centre of Häme was asked to give
a statement
The environmental centre of Hame stated that the
groundwater area is extremely important for water
supply and the groundwater are is highly
vulnerable. The groundwater level is only few
meters from the surface of the ground.
Despite of the statement of the Environment
centre of Häme the environmental authorities in
the municipality granted the permission
The environmental centre of Häme made an appeal
to Administrative Court against the decision of
the municipality.
The Administrative Court dismissed the appeal

The environmental centre of Häme made an appeal
to Supreme Administrative Court to repeal the
decision of the Administrative Court.
The Supreme Administrative Court stated in the
judgement that the permit can not be granted
because
Although the petrol station has been in operation
on the same location since 1965 in the permit
procedure the activity should be estimated as a
new activity because of the alterations.
the location is not suitable (important
groundwater area)
it is necessary to find alternative sites
the risk caused to groundwater by the activity is
strict reason for not to grant the permit
even the BAT does not eliminate the requirement
of absolute prohibition against groundwater
pollution
it is not certain that the protective measures
described in the application will prevent the
pollution of groundwater
The Supreme Administrative Court returned the
application back to the municipality in order to
study the possibilities to prevent the risk by
tightening the groundwater protection measures
and technical solution

19
Case III - pesticides

In Finland, the approval decisions of the
pesticide products are made by the Pesticide
Board, which consists of authorities from
different institutions or ministries. They
represent the areas of health, environment,
occupational safety, residues in food and needs
of agriculture.
The Plant Production Inspection Centre is the
national co-ordinator of registration process and
it keeps a register of pesticides accepted for
marketing in Finland.
The decisions of the Pesticide Board are based on
statements given by different authorities. The
Finnish Environment Institute is the responsible
authority for the environmental risk assessment
of pesticides.
Environmental risks are assessed based on
documentation supplied by the applicant and on
other information available. The statement of
Finnish Environment Institute includes a
conclusion, whether an applied pesticide is
acceptable or not.

Only those products which do not cause
unacceptable harm to the environment can be
accepted. Often particular restrictions for the
usage are set as a condition for acceptance in
order to decrease the harmful effects of a
pesticide to the environment.
These restrictions are currently mainly based on
the properties of a pesticide. For instance the
use of a pesticide in successive years in the
same field or the use in the groundwater areas
may be restricted. Additionally, the restrictions
may include buffer zones to watercourses.
Pesticides should only be used at selected sites
and even then only in small amounts. In
groundwater areas and near springs and water
intake structures pesticides should not be used
at all. A buffer zone has to be left between the
application area and waterbody. The equipment
used in the application of pesticides may not be
cleaned directly in the waterbody

21
Conclusions - pesticides

Pesticide had to be investigated and approved
before importing, marketing and usage of a
pesticide was allowed.
Finland has taken part to the common pesticide
evaluation and approval process within EU. The
authorizations of plant protection products are
ultimately decided at national level.
The Finnish Environment Institute is the
responsible authority for the environmental risk
assessment of pesticides
Only those products which do not cause
unacceptable harm to the environment can be
accepted
Use of a pesticide in the groundwater areas may
be restricted depending on results of the risk
assessment.