2. Where, on the basis of an assessment of environmental risks, taking into account, in particular, Council Directive 76/464/EEC, Council Directive 80/68/EEC or Directive 2000/60/EC, as applicable, the competent authority has decided that collection and treatment of leachate is not necessary or it has been established that the waste facility poses no potential hazard to soil, groundwater or surface water, via the analysis required under Directive 2000/60/EC, the relevant requirements set out in points (b) and (c) of paragraph 1 may be reduced or waived accordingly.

Research will focus on: impact of climate change on the components of the hydrological cycle - land/ocean/atmosphere interactions, groundwater/surface water distribution, freshwater and wetland ecosystems, soil functioning and water quality; assessment of vulnerability of water/soil systems to global change; management strategies, their impacts and mitigation technologies; scenarios of water demand and availability.

The new Water Framework Directive (WFD) [35] marks a change in Community water policy towards a coherent and integrated framework for assessment, monitoring, and management of all surface waters and groundwater based on their ecological and chemical status.

The identification of priority substances and priority hazardous substances targeted to the establishment of controls of emissions, discharges and losses into surface, transitional and coastal waters from land-based sources contributes to the objectives and the Community commitments under international conventions for the protection of marine waters, in particular to the implementation of the Strategy with regard to hazardous substances adopted at the 1998 OSPAR Ministerial Meeting under the Convention for the protection of the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic pursuant to Council Decision 98/249/EC.

The Directives on urban waste water, drinking water, bathing water and the quality of surface water for abstraction of drinking water have been transposed.

(i) at surface water sampling stations, laid down in Article 5 (4) of Directive 75/440/EEC and/or at other sampling stations which are representative of surface waters of Member States, at least monthly and more frequently during flood periods;