BGS and EA new aquifer designation now available through GroundSure

GroundSure EnviroInsight and GroundSure Review are now live with the Environment Agency / BGS new Aquifer designation. These designations are consistent with the Water Framework Directive as reflected in the Environment Agency’s Groundwater Protection Policy.

The new dataset treats bedrock and drift layers as discrete entities, with five categories of aquifer status.

The new aquifer designation identifies:

Principal aquifers (generally areas formerly identified as major aquifers)
Secondary aquifers. These are subdivided as follows:

i.   Secondary A (permeable layers capable of supporting water supplies at a local scale)
ii.   Secondary B (lower permeability layers, these are generally the water-bearing parts of the former non-aquifers)
iii.   Undifferentiated (where it has not been possible to attribute either Category A or B to a rock type. This category may have previously been designated as a minor aquifer or as a non-aquifer)

Unproductive (generally areas previously identified as a non-aquifer. Deposits that have low permeability and negligible significance for water supply or river base flow)

Download the new specimen of GroundSure EnviroInsight (Environmental data for consultants).