ABSTRACT
The assessment of the chemical status of groundwater bodies and modelling of pressures on the groundwater quality were carried out in the Raba river pilot basin, a part of the Upper Vistula basin (south-eastern Poland). Hydrogeochemical baseline of fresh groundwater and chemical status were evaluated in groundwater bodies designated on the basis of two scenarios. As a result, groundwater bodies threatened with the risk of not achieving the EWFD environmental aims till 2015 have been delineated. A reliable and proper interpretation of monitoring results is possible only if designations of particular GWBs and related monitoring points are based on the hydrological approach. The input of nitrate from farming as well as from unsewered villages, leaky septic systems in villages and small towns considerably worsen the groundwater quality. Predictions obtained in mass transport modelling indicate that the concentration of nitrates in the Raba river pilot basin will be on increase beyond the year 2015.
