COUNCIL RESOLUTION of 25 February 1992 on the future Community groundwater policy (92/C 59/02)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

UNDERLINES the vital importance of groundwater for all forms of life, for human health, and for safeguarding ecosystems;

STATES its concern about the lowering of groundwater levels and/or the pollution of certain aquifers;

NOTES that this important resource is limited, that its conservation for the future is a major political, economic and environmental imperative and that it can be exploited only in strict observance of the principle of sustainable development;

OBSERVES that freshwater management policy can be conducted only through coordinated action by all agents in the public and private sectors, taking due account of the principle of subsidiarity;

TAKES NOTE of the final declaration of the Ministerial Seminar held on 26 and 27 November 1991 on the future Community groundwater policy;

CALLS UPON THE COMMISSION:

- to submit, if possible by the middle of 1993, a detailed action programme for which that declaration may provide guidelines,

- to draft a proposal for revising Council Directive 80/68/EEC of 17 December 1979 on the protection of groundwater against pollution caused by certain dangerous substances by incorporating it into a general freshwater management policy, including freshwater protection;

REQUESTS the competent authorities and groups involved to contribute to the conservation of this natural resource in the areas under their control.