Pesticides and their metabolites in European groundwater: Comparing regulations and approaches to monitoring in France, Denmark, England and Switzerland

Pesticides, i.e. plant protection products (PPP), biocides and their metabolites, pose a serious threat to groundwater quality and groundwater dependent ecosystems. Across large parts of Europe these compounds are monitored in groundwater to ensure compliance with the European Water Framework Directive (WFD), the Groundwater Directive (GWD) and Drinking water Directive (DWD). European regulation concerning the placing of PPP on the market includes groundwater monitoring as a higher tier of the regulatory procedure. Nevertheless, the lists of compounds to be monitored vary from one directive to another and between countries. The implementation of monitoring strategies for these directives and other national drivers, differs across Europe. This is illustrated using case studies from France, Denmark (EU member states), England (part of the EU up to January 2020) and Switzerland (associated country). The collection of data (e.g. monitoring design and analytical approaches) and dissemination at national and European level and the scale of data reporting to EU is country-specific. Data generated by the implementation of WFD and DWD can be used for retrospective purposes in the context of PPP registration whereas the post-registration monitoring data generated by the product applicants are generally only directly available to the regulators. This lack of consistency and strategic coordination between thematic regulations is partly compensated by national regulations. This paper illustrates the benefits of a common framework for regulation in Europe but shows that divergent national approaches to monitoring and reporting on pesticides in groundwater makes the task of assessment across Europe challenging.