The implementation of the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/CE) and the Groundwater Framework Directive (2006/118/CE) aims to achieve a good environmental status of water bodies, both in chemical and quantitative terms, in order to ensure their sustainable management. The member states of the European Union carry out the status assessment by setting up monitoring networks and programmes. According to the European Directives, the Southern Apennines River Basin District Authority has identified the enhancement and standardisation of wells and springs monitoring systems as one of the priority measures to be undertaken to update the Water Management Plan. Groundwater monitoring is of primary importance for the Mediterranean region, a critical area for climate change, as decreasing effective rainfall and the increasing frequency and severity of droughts have been observed over recent decades. A robust assessment of the climatic effects on groundwater flow systems is necessary to evaluate the resilience of aquifers to climate change, and only a comparison between historical and contemporary detailed monitoring programmes can achieve this goal. The results of the most detailed hydrogeological monitoring of springs ever performed in Italy, organized in the regional-based monographs Le Sorgenti Italiane (conducted by the National Hydrographic Service between the 1920s and 1960s), have been compared, after a spring-by-spring matching, with contemporary field surveys and tests of drinking water supply springs. Preliminary findings, concerning the Calabria and Basilicata Regions, reveal a non-homogeneous decline in groundwater discharge, related to the lithology of the aquifer and geographic location, while some springs still maintain a significant flow. This highlights the urgent need for the implementation of discharge monitoring networks to support early warning systems and drought mitigation strategies.