The same holds, a fortiori, for water bodies in nature protection areas that need to achieve “high status”. Good and high status rivers typically record less than 1.8 and 0.9 mg N/l, respectively. Statutory Instrument 272/2009 (Surface Water Regulations). Ireland’s aquifers are predominantly bedrock aquifers. They have fissure permeability only, where water flow is through fissures or fractures and not through pore spaces in the rock itself, and hence lack the pollution filtering function typical of the sand aquifers that prevail in most OECD countries. Ireland is under the threat of being referred back to the ECJ.