The assessments of those groundwaters that are either not connected with the surface waters of the basin — discharging directly to the sea for example— or for which the connection was not confirmed by the countries, have been placed at the end of the chapter. Its common usage is derived from the WFD, in which surface water bodies and groundwater bodies are defined as water management units within river basins. One of the essential steps for EU member States in their implementation of the WFD has been to delineate and characterize bodies of surface water and groundwater.