Underground, under threat
Groundwater supplies about one third of drinking water in England and around 3 per cent in Wales, but pollution and increasing demand for water is putting the resource under pressure.
Underground, under threat is our report on the state of groundwater in England and Wales, and is published alongside the Groundwater Protection: Policy and Practice documents which set out our strategy for groundwater management.
Groundwater benefits:
- Society – by providing water that needs little treatment before it can be drunk
- The economy – groundwater reserves are worth an estimated £8 billion
- The environment – rivers are partly fed by groundwater. Some rivers and wetlands are completely dependant on it.
The two main threats to the groundwater resource are:
- Demand - Over use of Groundwater depletes the public water supply, so we might not be able to rely on it in the future. Many rivers and wildlife also depend on groundwater and may be harmed, or lost, if groundwater levels become too low. More than one quarter of groundwater sources in England are at risk of failing new objectives to be set under the EU Water Framework Directive because of abstraction pressures.
- Pollution - Groundwater is vulnerable to contamination and is difficult to clean. Nitrate, pesticides, solvents and other chemicals can get into groundwater from both surface water and soils.
Download our new report, "Underground, under threat" and "Groundwater Protection: Policy and Practice (GP3)", which sets out how we manage and protect groundwater resources and our plans for the future.
