Правові проблеми забезпечення якості питних підземних вод України

The article is devoted to the analysis of the legal provision on the quality of underground drinking water in Ukraine and the current trends in the development of national legislation in the specified area, taking into account the Directives of the European Union regulating the issue of water relations in the field under study. Drinking water is one of the most important human needs as evidenced by numerous scientific studies including legal ones, in particular, the formulation of scientific approaches to understanding the right to drinking water and ensuring its safety as one of the basic human rights. The problem with the lack of drinking water of appropriate quality appears due to many factors and the demand for fresh underground water has increased rapidly. As a result, the anthropogenic load on the underground hydrosphere and the risk of pollution and depletion of these waters have increased. Therefore, the underground waters of Ukraine are gaining more and more importance and the legal problems of their protection and quality assurance are urgent. The study consists of three parts considerating: legal basis for ensuring the quality of underground drinking water in Ukraine; the concept of underground drinking water as an object of legal relations for protection and use; peculiarities of legal provision of safety and quality of underground drinking water in Ukraine. Current issues of underground water protection, problems of legislative regulation of state accounting, state monitoring and state control of the quality of underground drinking water on the territory of Ukraine are considered. The main problems of legal assurance of the quality of underground drinking water and the ways to solve them are determined. Particular attention is paid to the improvement of the quality standards for underground drinking water and their legislative enshrining. Proposals for improving the legal provision for the quality of underground drinking water in Ukraine, including the experience of the European Union, have been developed and substantiated.