Catchment News

Clean water is one of our most important national resources. Human activities have led to deterioration in water quality over many years. The Water Framework Directive was adopted by the EU in order to halt and reverse the decline in water quality. The Directive sets very strict deadlines for meeting water quality objectives, especially in protected areas. This plan sets out how we aim to achieve the objectives of the Directive in the Western River Basin District.

Informed by pilot projects from the 1990’s and through extensive research carried out since 2003, local authorities have developed this plan to provide an objective scientific approach to meeting the required water standards. In preparing the plan all known pressures on waters have been identified and quantified at the level of individual water bodies. Measures to address the pressures have been examined and the likelihood of water quality recover has been assessed. All public bodies and other stakeholders have been consulted extensively in the process.

The plan’s targets are ambitious yet they are no more than we are obliged to do by EU and national legislation. Further legislative change may be required to control specific activities. Responsibility for taking measures lies with all public bodies whose activities impact on water quality or who regulate such activities. Local authorities must perform their own activities in a way that will promote achievement of objectives and additionally must carry out a range of environmental monitoring and enforcement activities to ensure that other stakeholders’ actions will lead to water quality improvements.