Understanding groundwater protection

The Environment Agency is the statutory body responsible for the protection and management of groundwater resources in England.

Groundwater resources are essential to many individuals, companies, and communities to supply water for drinking, agriculture and industry.

Up to 80% of drinking water supplies are reliant on groundwater abstraction, especially in areas in Southern England.

Groundwater also maintains wetlands and river flow during dry spells and is vital to the maintenance of their rich ecology and biodiversity.

Protecting groundwater is essential. If your proposed activity presents an unacceptable risk to groundwater, you may not get permission to proceed.

The subsurface environment is inaccessible and complex. Groundwater pollution can be very difficult to detect and may not become evident until a water supply or spring is affected. Pollutants may take months or years to migrate from the source to a receptor or to a point where they can be detected.

In order to protect drinking water supplies, the Environment Agency have defined Source Protections Zones (SPZ). These zones show the level of risk to the abstraction from contamination. The closer the activity to the source of potable supply, the greater the risk.

All potable abstractions also have a default protection distances even when an SPZ has not been formally mapped.

Find a source protection zone¹

We use our approach to groundwater protection² to:

• put in pollution prevention measures in areas of high risk
• monitor the activities of nearby potential polluters

This included details of where the Environment Agency will normally object to certain types of development in sensitive locations.

Where necessary, any subsequent planning application will need to be accompanied by an appropriate hydrogeological risk assessment³ to assess the impacts of the proposed development on groundwater. Where the land is also affected by legacy contamination, the risk assessment should also have consideration of Land Contamination Risk Management⁴ (LCRM) framework.

Planning and permitting decisions are separate but closely linked. Planning permission determines if a development is an acceptable use of the land and ensures that a site will be “fit” for its new use.  Permitting ensures certain relevant “operations” – groundwater activities, waste treatment, movement, and the associated impact of any contamination within the material on the wider environment- are managed to prevent or minimise pollution, and this is usually via the Environmental Permitting Regulations (EPR).

1. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/groundwater-source-protection-zones-spzs#find-groundwater-spzs
2. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/groundwater-protection-position-statements
3. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/groundwater-risk-assessment-for-your-environmental-permit
4. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/land-contamination-risk-management-lcrm