23/06/09
Water UK has published its response to an Environment Agency consultation on draft River Basin Management Plans which aim to improve rivers, lakes, estuaries and other water courses.
Publication of RBMPs is a milestone on the road to reducing pollution that damages the environment and the economy. The plans are the product of years of work by the agency and its associates - local authorities, consumer and environmental groups, and the business sector - following adoption of the Water Framework Directive (WFD).
Significant gaps
The plans show that progress has been made in classifying water bodies and beginning to define how their ecological status might be improved. But they also reveal significant gaps, in particular:
• Lack of clarity about sources of funding to enable all sectors to deliver WFD obligations
• Inadequate focus on minimising greenhouse gas emissions
• Unequal and uneconomic division of responsibilities and costs between different sectors
• Insufficient emphasis on the polluter pays principle which is a requirement of the WFD.
Improving the plans
RBMPs cover actions to be carried out in Phase 1 of WFD implementation, the six years 2010-2015. To begin to remedy the problems, four steps are needed:
Step l Actions assigned to different sectors must be made more specific and equitable
Step 2 To improve the evidence base, understanding of problems and efficiency of measures needed in Phases 2 and 3 (to 2021 and 2027), all sectors should be required to carry out investigations
Step 3 Clearer analysis of the costs and benefits of schemes included in the plans
Step 4 Improvement objectives for groundwater, surface water abstraction sources and associated catchments, currently missing, must be put in place.
Steve Ntifo, Environment and Science Adviser, said:
"Water UK supports the Environment Agency's aspiration to have an effective Phase 1 river basin management plan, but this isn't it. There are big gaps which must be filled.
"Water companies are committed to playing a full part in implementing the WFD but success depends on policy taking a new direction. A lot has been achieved, but if the gaps remain the sustainability of the whole project could be at risk."
Water UK responseEnds
For more information please contact:
Water UK Communication
020 7344 1809 (out of hours 07833 450544)
