DEFRA WATER STAKEHOLDER FORUM
Environment Agency
Update on Progress – March 2011
Operational delivery of River Basin Management Plans
Reasons for failure information
Cycle 2 planning
External engagement
The Hydromorphology Guide
RESTORE
Revised Bathing Water Directive
Priority substances, priority hazardous substances and specific pollutants
Nutrient standards and eutrophication assessment
Drinking Water Protected Areas (DrWPAs)
Diffuse pollution
Operational delivery of River Basin Management Plans
Investigations
At the end of quarter 3 (2010/2011), we had completed 1350 investigations, and a further 4,632 were in progress. This represents 45% of the total programme of investigations. For more information on the numbers and types of investigations completed and a brief description of the outcomes please visit
Measures
There is now an increasing focus on delivery of measures in addition to the investigations programme. We aim to be able to report the progress of measures through liaison panels towards the end of July.
Catchment focus for delivery
In late 2010, the Environment Minister Richard Benyon asked us to look at how we might organise our delivery of water improvements work, with active engagement of partners, on a catchment basis. While recognising the extensive work we are already doing on WFD delivery, we are taking a more proactive approach to bringing stakeholders together at a catchment scale, considering their evidence, using the results of their monitoring and our own investigations to more fully assess measures and address issues such as diffuse pollution, using non-regulatory and regulatory approaches. We will be discussing this in more depth during the meeting on 22 March.
An update from SW Region
In order to achieve the objectives in an efficient and effective way, capitalising on any opportunities to improve on the level of ambition, the region have taken the103 waterbodies aimed to improve to good status, and grouped them with upstream and downstream waterbodies into ‘clusters’.
They have started a rolling programme to draw together and analyse the information available for these ‘clusters’ and identify a clear programme for delivering improvements. The information and action plans are recorded in a ‘Waterbody Implementation Plan’, or ‘WIP’, and the actions then delivered.
This process focuses our activities to ensure delivery. However, outside WIP areas, there is still a comprehensive programme of WFD investigations to complete in order to prepare for the second cycle of River Basin Management Planning. Additionally, we must ensure no deterioration in status and the delivery of objectives for protected areas (e.g. Natura 2000 and bathing waters), many of which fall outside the current WIP areas. As we learn from these investigations and obligations, our priorities will be kept under review.
Reasons for failure information
During the last few months of 2010 our local staff have worked to improve the quality of our information and reduce uncertainty on the reasons for failure to achieve good status. This has been done to address short term needs and as part of the river basin planning process for cycle 2 of river basin management.
The outcomes of this work are presented in the pie charts below. This data represents a count of the times a reason for failure was cited. There can be multiple failing elements for each water body and multiple reasons for failure recorded for each of those failing elements. This means that the same reason for failure can appear multiple times in a water body, linked to different failing elements. This represents a snapshot of the current understanding of the reasons for failure data at the time of collation. Regions and areas are continuing to collect and record reasons for failure as part of their ongoing programme of investigations.
Please note: The data contained in these pie charts is a national collation of reasons for failure data following a review exercise of diffuse source and unknown reasons for failure carried out during October to December 2010.
Cycle 2 planning
We have started thinking about our approach for cycle 2 planning and engagement. The Environment Agency will need help to ensure the process and decision making is transparent and to maximise the freedom to plan at a catchment level. This will improve environmental outcomes and where necessary provide clear justification for setting alternative objectives.
Wider involvement will be sought during the Defra Water Stakeholder Forum, the Liaison Panels and 1 to 1 meetings over the coming months.
Communications and external engagement
River Basin District Liaison Panels will be meeting over the next few months. The main focus of these meetings will be to discuss outcomes of investigations and progress with measures. The National Liaison Panel for England will meet on 4 April 2011.
The key focus of our national activity over the next six months will be to take an integrated, strategic and consistent approach to external stakeholder engagement; supporting regions to strengthen local engagement and the commitment to deliver; and developing an engagement strategy for cycle 2 planning. The first meeting of our cross organisational group focusing on engagement will take place on 6 April, after which we aim to seek representation from external organisations on this group.
The Hydromorphology guide
We have produced a river basin management guide to hydromorphology, which supports the first cycle River Basin Management Plans, by providing additional information on hydromorphology in six separate documents. You should read these if you want to know what hydromorphology is and its role in the Water Framework Directive.
The documents cover the following areas:
- How we identify heavily modified water bodies.
- How we assess ecological potential.
- How we are improving our understanding of hydromorphology.
- How we set the objectives for hydromorphological improvement.
- How we are going to achieve the actions to improve hydromorphology.
- What mitigation measures will be put in place to achieve the objectives.
If you would like to receive anyor all ofthese documents please
RESTORE
The RESTORE project seeks to support existing and future river restoration activities across Europe. The first step will be to understand ‘state of the art’ best practice in Europe and further afield. An understanding of the needs/barriers and potential conflicts to successful river restoration implementation and database of current projects will be developed via a series of baseline studies in four European regions. This early work will identify specific projects and activities that address river environmental problems and examine how they relate to implementing EU Directives. Follow-on activities will identify river restoration main target audiences and promote the sharing of best practice, including: understanding policy opportunities and constraints, technical information, the effectiveness of restoration methods, costs, design techniques, economic information, costs and benefits.
Revised Bathing Water Directive
The revised Directive poses a number of challenges for the Environment Agency, the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Local Authorities and Beach Operators.
It sets more stringent water quality standards and also puts a stronger emphasis on beach management and public information.
The key work areas we have to support our move to the revised Directive are:
- The development of bathing water profiles for all bathing waters, and a general description based on the profile to be displayed on signage at the bathing water. The profiles are on schedule to be published on the net on the 24th March.
- Based on 2010 predictions we currently have 51 bathing waters which will not meet the standards of the rBWD in 2015 without improvement. We have therefore focused an analysis of actions for improvements on these waters and we are reviewing these actions as a priority. The analysis will be used to highlight any areas of difficulty in implementing improvements so that we can plan for improving application of measures on waters which do not comply with the rBWD..
Within the revised Bathing Water Directive, the main changes thatwe will be responsible for implementing, and communicating, include:
- Much more stringent microbiological standards and the cessation of monitoring for physico chemical parameters monitored under the current Bathing Water Directive.
- A change from measuring compliance using the pass/fail approach to classification based on four classes: poor/sufficient/good/excellent.
- The rBWD requirement for us to reach sufficient class at all bathing waters by 2015.
- The requirement to supply more information so the public can choose where to bathe.
The current directive will be repealed in 2015 when the final stages of the revised Bathing Water Directive (2006/7/EC) come into force.
Our timelines for delivery are:
1.In 2008 the first list of bathing waters under the revised Bathing Water Directive was created.
2.On 24th March 2011 we will publish bathing water profiles for all bathing waters on the web.
3.In 2012 monitoring will begin for a 4 year classification to be done in 2015.
4.In 2015 we will publish our first classification of bathing waters under the revised Bathing Water Directive.
Priority substances, priority hazardous substances and specific pollutants
The Environmental Quality Standards Directive(EQS)
The EQS Directive replaces the Dangerous Substances Directive and establishes environmental quality standards for 33 priority and priority hazardous substances. Compliance with these EQS forms the basis of Good Surface Water Chemical Status under the Water Framework Directive. We published Pollution Reduction Plans for these substances in December 2009.
The EQS Directive sets additional objectives in relation toemissions of priority hazardous substances, concentrations of chemicals in sediment and biota, and requirements for monitoring and reporting. It was transposed into national legislation in August through the updated Ministerial Direction on Typology and Standards. We are currently developing the approaches needed for its full implementation, including work with Defra to assess the requirement to cease or phase out emissions, discharges and losses of priority hazardous substances.
The EU have produced a short-list of further “candidate” priority substances. We are involved in EQS development for some of these substances. We expect that any new priority substances will be added to the scope of EQS Directive before the second cycle of River Basin Planning.
Specific pollutants
There is also work underway to identify additional chemicals for national designation as specific pollutants. A consultation on proposals will be initiated in late 2011; this could include revisions to standards for existing specific pollutants, new designations and proposals on the use of bioavailability-based standards for metals.
Nutrient standards and eutrophication assessment
UKTAG[1] intends to review nutrient standards by 2012, for potential application in the second cycle of river basin management plans. The review includes standards for phosphorus in rivers and lakes, and will be based on improved understanding of the relationships between phosphorus and biology. It will also take into account the outcome of the EU intercalibration process. We anticipate that, as previously, there will be the opportunity for stakeholder review of the proposed standards prior to recommendations to government.
UKTAG is also undertaking work to inform weight of evidence approaches to assessing the effects of eutrophication. The results will be shared with interested stakeholders in the summer.
Drinking Water Protected Areas (DrWPAs)
Our risk assessment ofsurface and groundwaterDrWPAs in England and Walesindicated that the main pressures are pesticides, colour and nitrates. These occur largely, but not exclusively, as a result of farming and rural land management practices. A programme of investigations and measures was agreed, which address a range of sectors and utilises a variety of delivery mechanisms from PR09 tothe Catchment Sensitive Farming initiative.
In the last 12 months, our work on DrWPAs has focussed on producing the information required for the first cycle River Basin Management Plans, establishing the necessary monitoring network and refining risk assessments. As we move into the implementation phase, we want to embed work on DrWPAs into the business and turn our attention to the development ofpartnerships andnational measures and mechanisms for the second river basin planning cycle.Thesewillinclude working withOFWAT,the Chemical Regulation Directorate, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, industry and NGOsto addresspressures.
Diffuse Pollution
The Environment Agency Diffuse Pollution Project is part of the WFD Programme and aims to co-ordinate actions to address diffuse pollution and ensure recommendations from the NAO survey of diffuse pollution are taken forward. The project has developed a strategic approach to addressing agricultural and non-agricultural diffuse water pollution that links levels of evidence of impact and source apportionment to the selection of appropriate ways (mechanisms) to deliver measures. The approach is now embedded in the developing ‘catchment approach’ for River Basin Planning that will help to identify and engage with key delivery partners. We are working with Natural England to understand how it relates to key agricultural measures (such as cross-compliance and agri-environment). We are also developing guidance on ‘catchment walk-overs’ to help improve our evidence to tackle diffuse water pollution.
The Diffuse Pollution Project will focus on building ‘value for money’ measures into our operational processes including the development of a cost-effectiveness tool for appraising action to tackle diffuse pollution, and an assessment of the value of interventions.
The Environment Agency and Defra will develop a joint strategy on non-agricultural diffuse pollution in the forthcoming year. In the short term this will focus on priority sources where we have strong evidence of impacts such as road run-off, misconnections, contaminated sediment and run-off from industrial estates. We will gather more evidence where we have less understanding. We will advise on local and partnership interventions to ensure best value for money.
Environment Agency Water Framework Directive Programme, Water Quality and Land Quality
March 2011
Environment Agency Update – March 2011
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[1]The United Kingdom Technical Advisory Group (UKTAG) supports the implementation ofthe Water Framework Directive. It is a partnership of the UK environment and conservation agencies.