Evaluating impact on quality of water

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Scope

Does the option decrease or increase the quality or quantity of freshwater and groundwater?

Definition

A large contingent of Europe´s population depends on groundwater for daily drinking water. Groundwater is also one of our most important sources of irrigation water. Groundwater is generally a safe source of drinking water; however, groundwater is susceptible to pollutants, and there are concerns that contamination may increase as toxins dumped on the ground in the past make their way into groundwater supplies. Groundwater is susceptible to pollutants, e.g. pesticides and fertilizers, road salt, toxic substances from mining sites, and used motor oil that may seep into groundwater. In addition, it is possible for untreated waste from septic tanks and toxic chemicals from underground storage tanks to contaminate groundwater. Drinking contaminated groundwater can have serious health effects. Diseases such as hepatitis and dysentery may be caused by contamination from septic tank waste. Poisoning may be caused by toxins that have leached into well water supplies. Wildlife can also be harmed by contaminated groundwater. Other long term effects such as certain types of cancer may also result from exposure to polluted water.

Result

Indicators:

There are no Eurostat Structural Indicators directly related to this key question.

There are no Eurostat Sustainable Development Indicators directly related to this key question since the decrease or increase of surface and groundwater quality and quantity can not be described by only one indicator. However, freshwater abstraction has a clear influence on it and is described by this Sustainable Development Indicator:

- Surface and Groundwater Abstraction

There is no Sustainable Development Indicator covering effects on quality or quantity of surface and groundwater itself, but since wastewater treatment influences quality or quantity of surface and groundwater, two Sustainable Development Indicators related to the question can be found:

- Population connected to urban wastewater treatment systems with at least secondary treatment

See also

Eurostat Theme indicators: See Screenshot for level on which to find Eurostat Theme indicators on water:

See Screenshot for level on which to find indicato

Eurostat Theme indicators: See Screenshot for level on which to find Eurostat Theme indicators on regional water statistics:

See

Eurostat long-term indicators

Eurostat water long-term indicators

covers inter alia

- Total fresh water abstraction (Data covering EU 25 and some additional countries 1992 - 2005)

European Environment Agency Indicators

EEA Water Indicators

covers inter alia

- Total ammonium concentrations in different sized European rivers (Data covering European rivers for 1990-1998)

- Biochemical oxygen demand in rivers (Data covering Finland, Greece, Italy, Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands, United Kingdom with data for the most recent available year aggregated across all sizes of rivers)

- Biological quality of lakes (Data covering Denmark (2001 data, july-august average), France (1994-1998, summer average and 2002, july-august average), Greece (1985, july-august average), Norway: 1988-1993, july-august average)

- Hazardous substances in lakes (Data covering Nordic countries for autumn 1995 and PCB and DDT in pike from Lake Storvindeln, Sweden for 1967-2000)

- Hazardous substances in rivers (Data covering European river stations for 1990-2001)

- Drinking Water Quality (Year of reported problem is not the same for each country: range of reported years, mid-1990s to 2001 . A country was included if it was reported that there was a national problem with a particular contaminant and/or there were problems in particular areas or situations)

- Bathing Water Quality (Data covering EU 15 for 1992-2002)

- Nitrate in groundwater (Data covering Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovenia, Finland, Norway for 1993-2001)

- Pesticides in groundwater (Data covering Europe for 2000)

- National river classification schemes (Data covering UK, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Poland, Latvia, Albania, Slovak Republic, France, Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic, Ireland, Germany, Latvia different years for different countries 1997-2001)

- Nitrogen concentrations in rivers (Data covering European rivers for 1990-1998)

- Nitrogen and phosphorus in rivers(Data covering Western and Northern Europe and accession countries 1950s - 2000)

- Nutrients in rivers (Data covering European rivers for 1992-2001)

- Ammonium concentration in different sized European rivers (Data covering 1990-1998)

- Phosphorus concentrations in rivers (Data covering European rivers for 1990-1998)

- Phosphorus in lakes - Eutrophication indicators in lakes (Data covering European lakes for 1981-2001)

- Emissions of organic matter (Data covering regions of Europe for 1990-2000)

- Emissions to water of hazardous substances from industry (Data covering Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden for 1985 and 1999)

- Emissions to water of hazardous substances from urban sources (Data covering Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden for 1985 and 1999)

- Urban wastewater treatment (Data covers Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Ireland, United Kingdom, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Greece, Spain for 1980s and 1990s)

- Emissions of nitrogen and phosphorus from urban wastewater treatment plants (Data covering Norway, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Netherlands, Switzerland, Hungary, Czech Republic for 1970-2000)

- Non-indigenous species in rivers and lakes (Data covering Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK for 2003)

- Overall reservoir stocks - Proportion of annual renewable freshwater resources stored in reservoirs (Data covering European countries and regions for 2003)

- Sectoral use of water in regions of Europe (Data covering Bulgaria, Czech Rep., Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta, Cyprus, Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Netherlands, UK, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain for 2003 and 2004)

- Water use in urban areas - Urban water use (Data covering Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta, Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, UK, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain for 1993-1999)

- Water use in urban areas - Household water use (Data covering Spain, Norway, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Austria, Hungary, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Belgium, Estonia, Lithuania for various years between 1995 and 2000)

- Water use efficiency (in cities): leakage (Data covering Bulgaria, Slovenia, Hungary, Ireland, Czech Republic, Romania, Italy, France, Slovak Republic, UK, Soain, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany for various years between 1995 and 201)

- Water exploitation index (Data for EEA countries for 1990 and 2001)

- Groundwater overexploitation and saltwater intrusion (Data covering Europe for 2003)

- Mean water allocation for irrigation in Europe - Water use for irrigation (Data covering Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, UK, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Cyprus, Malta, Turkey for 1993-1999)

- Mean water allocation for irrigation in Europe - Irrigated land in Europe (Data covering Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, UK, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Cyprus, Malta, Turkey for 1993-1999)

- Water Prices - Agricultural, industrial and household water prices (Data covering the Netherlands, France, UK, Greece, Spain, Austria, Turkey, Portugal, Hungary for 1999-2001)

- Water prices - Domestic water use price: average increases in selected European countries (Data covering Hungary, France, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, Finland, Belgium, Greece, England and Wales, Italy, Sweden for different years between 1982-1998)

- Water prices - Household water use and price of water in Hungary (Data covering Hungary for 1990-2000)