Groundwater areas

The data includes groundwater areas mapped and classified for water supply. The demarcation and classification of groundwater areas and groundwater protection plans are laid down in Chapter 2a of the Act on the Organisation of Water and Marine Management (1299/2004). The amendment to the Act on the Organisation of Water and Marine Management entered into force on 1 February 2015. According to the Act, the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment classifies the groundwater area on the basis of its suitability for water supply and need for protection as follows: - a groundwater area which is important for Category 1 water supply and which is used or intended to be used for the supply of water to a community or for the supply of domestic water in excess of an average of 10 cubic metres per day or for the needs of more than fifty persons; - Category 2 groundwater area suitable for other water supply uses and suitable for the uses referred to in paragraph 1 on the basis of its abundance and other characteristics; - The Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment also classifies in category E a groundwater area in which the surface water or terrestrial ecosystem is directly dependent on groundwater Previous breakdown into categories I, II and III (Category I: groundwater area of importance for water supply, Category II: groundwater area suitable for water supply, Category III: other groundwater area) is valid until further notice in parallel until the inspections of groundwater areas are completed. Numerical groundwater area data includes groundwater area boundaries, formation area boundaries, sub-area boundaries, classifications and protection plan information. As a rule, groundwater areas are limited to 1:20 000 scale maps and converted from them to numerical ones. In some parts of Northern Finland, 1:50 000-scale floor maps have also been used. The boundary of the groundwater area indicates the area that has an impact on the water quality or formation of the aquifer. The boundary of the groundwater catchment area indicates an area where the soil layers are well drained and where the soil allows significant water absorption into groundwater. The formation area also includes those parts of the groundwater area that significantly increase the amount of groundwater in a body of groundwater. The formation area is the area on the basis of which an estimate is calculated of the amount of groundwater formed, i.e. the amount of renewable groundwater. More information on groundwater mapping and classification: http://www.environment.fi/en-FI/Water/Water protection/Pohjavesi_protection/Pohjavesi areas The data is included in SYKE's open data (CC BY 4.0), with the exception of point-like groundwater areas. An INSPIRE data product has been published from the data. The database was completed in 1996, after which it has been updated on the basis of inspections. Starting from autumn 2024, the changes will be updated to the material once a week, including download packages and interface services. The INSPIRE data product of groundwater area data is updated twice a year. Purpose: The starting point for the mapping and classification of groundwater areas has been water supply and securing it. The data can also be used in land use planning and groundwater protection tasks. In addition, the material can be used for tasks related to the EU Water Framework Directive. Further information: https://geoportal.ympäristö.fi/meta/julkinen/dokumentit/Pohjavesialueet.pdf http://www.environment.fi/en-FI/Water_and_Sea/Water_and_Sea Protection/North Water_Protection/North Waters/North Waters(26765) Groundwater bodies The dataset includes those groundwater bodies, that are investigated and classified for the water supply purposes. The information can also be used to support land use planning and groundwater protection. The main aquifers were mapped and classified in the 1990’s into so called groundwater areas according to the needs of water supply management and protection requirements. The legislation on protecting groundwater was updated in February 2015 and groundwater dependant ecosystems (both terrestrial and surface water) were acknowledged. The digitized spatial dataset includes boundaries of groundwater areas, groundwater recharge areas and sub-areas as well as classifications and information about possible protection plans. As a rule, the groundwater areas are first announced from the base maps in scale 1:20 000 and then digitized. For some parts of the northern Finland digitizing is done from the base maps in scale 1:50 000. The groundwater area's boundary determines the area which has an impact on the groundwater quality or production. The boundary of a groundwater recharge area determines the area having a good infiltration level with soil that has permeability similar to fine sand. The dataset includes also information on rock and moraine formations having a significant impact on the groundwater formation on the groundwater recharge areas. Estimates on the water yield of the aquifer are made based on the size of the groundwater recharge area. The area remaining between the groundwater recharge area boundary and the groundwater area boundary is often called a groundwater area margin. INSPIRE compatible dataset has been published.