Three documents from the Environment Agency set out how the regulator deals with risks to groundwater.
The first focuses on how it carries out the government’s policy for groundwater and adopts a risk-based approach where legislation allows. This is aimed at anyone whose current or proposed activities have an impact on or are affected by groundwater, including: developers; planners; environmental permit applicants and holders; and water abstractors.
Groundwater protection technical guidance looks at inputs of substances and pollutants to groundwater; discernibility of hazardous substances; and when geological formations can be determined permanently unsuitable for other purposes.
The third document focuses on activity exclusions from environmental permits. These include exclusions for: accidents and natural causes; very minor discharges – known as de minimis; risks to human health or the environment; and disproportionate cost for land contamination.