Temporal development of nitrate (arithmetic) mean values in groundwater bodies from 1993 to 2001

It compares mean values for Western Europe, the Accession countries and the Nordic countries. Western Europe: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands; 34 GW-bodies Accession countries: Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovenia; 39 GW-bodies Nordic countries: Finland, Norway; 21 GW-bodies; Swedish data are not included due to a data gap The Drinking Water guide level is laid down in the Drinking Water Directive 80/778/EC. This Directive is repealed with effect from five years after the entry into force of Council Directive 98/83/EC of 3 November 1998 on the quality of water intended for human consumption. In the new Drinking Water Directive 98/83/EC a Drinking Water Guide level is no longer mentioned. The time series consist of consistent data sets with no data gaps. For each time series the annual mean values of sampling sites were aggregated on the level of GW-bodies and, furtherm