River basin planning process overview: Solway Tweed River Basin District in England

Question 1

1.  Introduction

Accepted Answer

This document sets out the decision making which has informed the Solway Tweed River Basin Management Plan, a water that is wholly, or partly, in England. It summarises the processes behind the update, linking to more information where appropriate.

This document also contains a description of the summary programmes of measures, and links to the Programmes of measures: mechanisms summary for the Solway Tweed river basin district in England document. This details the mechanisms available to deliver measures that underpin the achievement of the environmental objectives of the Solway Tweed River Basin Management Plan.

Question 2

2.  River basin management plans

Accepted Answer

2.1. River basin management plan legislation (Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) Regulations 2017)

The Water Framework Directive seeks to establish an integrated approach to the protection and sustainable use of the water environment. This requires a holistic approach to managing waters, looking at the wider ecosystem and taking into account the movement of water through the hydrological cycle.

The Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) Regulations 2017 and the Water Environment (Water Framework Directive)(Solway Tweed River Basin District) Regulations 2004 transpose the Water Framework Directive as well as aspects of the Groundwater Directive and Environmental Quality Standards Directive.

The Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) Regulations 2017 (referred to as WFD Regulations in this document) provides a framework for managing the water environment in England.

The European Union Withdrawal Act 2018 carries over the requirements of the Water Framework Directive, into domestic law as retained EU law.

The WFD Regulations require the preparation and publication of river basin management plans; the setting of environmental objectives for groundwater and surface waters (including estuaries and coastal waters) and the devising and implementing of programmes of measures to meet those objectives.

Under the WFD Regulations, a river basin management plan must be developed for each river basin district and reviewed and updated every 6 years. The Solway Tweed River Basin Management Plan was first published in December 2009, and last updated in December 2015.

2.2. Environmental objectives

The aims of the WFD Regulations are to:

prevent further deterioration and protect and enhance the status of aquatic ecosystems and associated wetlands
promote the sustainable consumption of water
reduce pollution of waters from priority substances and phasing out of priority hazardous substances
prevent the deterioration of the status and to progressively reduce pollution of groundwater
contribute to mitigating the effects of floods and droughts

The WFD Regulations environmental objectives, as set out in regulation 13, are:

prevention of deterioration of the status of surface waters and groundwater
achievement of objectives and standards for protected areas
protect, enhance and restore each body of surface water with the aim of achieving good status for all water bodies by 2021. Where this is not possible and subject to the criteria set out in the WFD Regulations, aim to achieve good status by 2027 or set an objective less stringent than good status
protect and enhance each artificial or heavily modified water body with the aim of achieving good ecological potential and good surface water chemical status for heavily modified water bodies and artificial water bodies. Where this is not possible and subject to the criteria set out in the WFD Regulations, aim to achieve good status or potential by 2027 or set an objective less stringent than good status or potential
reversal of any significant and sustained upward trends in pollutant concentrations in groundwater
aim progressively to reduce pollution from priority substances and aim to cease or phase out discharges of priority hazardous substances into surface waters
progressively reduce the pollution of groundwater, prevent the input of hazardous substances and limit the entry of non-hazardous pollutants to groundwater

River basin management plans also recognise that it is important to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises in order to achieve these aims, for example, prevent further deterioration, ensure sustainable water supply and mitigate the effects of natural hazards such as floods and drought.

2.2.1. Preventing deterioration

As required by regulation 13, the status of water bodies must be prevented from deteriorating, except in specified circumstances. Deterioration is formally assessed and reported over the 6 years of a river basin management planning cycle.

The environmental baseline from which the preventing deterioration objective applies is the current status reported in the plan. This environmental baseline is used by the Environment Agency and others when making water management decisions such as determining environmental permits and licences and assessing the potential impact of development.

For the 3rd cycle of river basin planning (2021 to 2027) any consideration of deterioration will need to take into account the current status reported in both this 2021 plan and the 2015 plan. Any published interim classification results should also be taken into consideration. This will ensure that decisions take into account any:

deteriorations of status since 2015, including any deteriorations in the baseline permitted under regulation 19
improvements of status since 2015

In line with government guidance, the main aspects of the Environment Agency’s approach to implementing the preventing deterioration requirements are that:

the preventing deterioration requirements are applied independently to each of the elements that come together to form the water body classification. This requirement may not apply to elements at high status
deterioration from one status class to a lower one is not permitted
while deterioration within a status class does not contravene the requirements of the WFD Regulations, action should be taken to limit within status class deterioration as far as practicable. For groundwater quality, measures must also be taken to reverse any environmentally significant upward trend in pollutants, whether or not it affects status
where the water body or element is already in the lowest status class (bad ecological status or potential, fails to achieve good chemical status, poor groundwater chemical status, poor groundwater quantitative status) no further deterioration will be permitted
to manage the risk of the deterioration of the status of the biological elements for surface waters, the preventing deterioration requirements are applied to the environmental standards for the physico-chemical elements, including those for the moderate to poor and poor to bad status boundaries
to manage the risk of deterioration from water abstraction by ensuring river flows continue to support the existing status of biological elements and environmental objectives
for groundwater the preventing deterioration requirements are applied to each of the 4 component tests for quantitative status and the 5 component tests for chemical status
elements at high status may be permitted to deteriorate to good status provided:
- the water body’s overall status is not high
- the river basin management plan has not set an objective for the water body of high status
- the objectives and requirements of other legislation are complied with
- action is taken to limit deterioration within the high and good status classes as far as practicable
- where the morphology element is at high status, deterioration to good status is not permitted

In certain and specific circumstances, regulation 19 may be used to justify deterioration caused by new modifications to the physical characteristics of a surface water body or alterations to the level of groundwater. More detail on regulation 19 is provided in the section on exemptions to the environmental objectives.

As the climate changes there may be fundamental alterations to the character of some water bodies. For example, streams might become ephemeral (only flowing in winter) or coastal freshwater water bodies might become saline due to sea-level rise. Without better understanding and information on the extent, direction and timing of these changes it is not appropriate to proactively change the river basin management plan objectives. The priority is to build a baseline understanding of the condition of the water bodies and monitor the performance of measures (such as fish passes or abstraction changes) to ensure they deliver the benefits and resilience required.

In line with Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra’s) catchment based approach, the Environment Agency wants to continue working with catchment partners to clarify the impacts of climate change and implement appropriate measures accordingly. This adaptive management approach is consistent with Defra’s guidance on river basin planning and the National Adaptation Programme.

2.2.2. Protected areas

The WFD Regulations incorporate objectives and requirements for waters used for shellfish harvesting and the quality of raw waters abstracted for drinking water supply. Areas designated for the protection of habitats or species (European sites), and bathing waters have separate regulations that set out the objectives and requirements for these sites. Waters and water-dependent areas which are subject to the requirements of this separate legislation and the WFD Regulations are known as protected areas.

Regulation 10 of the WFD Regulations requires the Environment Agency to establish and keep an up-to-date register of protected areas. The types of protected areas that must be included in the register are:

areas identified for the abstraction of water intended for human consumption (drinking water protected areas)
areas designated for the protection of economically significant aquatic species (shellfish water protected areas)
bodies of water designated as recreational waters, including bathing waters
nutrient-sensitive areas, including areas identified as nitrate vulnerable zones and sensitive areas for urban waste water treatment
areas designated for the protection of habitats or species. These are water-dependent Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas (European site protected areas). Ramsar sites are not protected areas under the WFD Regulations, but are included in the plan as a matter of government

Drinking water protected areas

The objectives for drinking water protected areas are to ensure that the necessary measures are in place to avoid deterioration in the water quality in the protected area in order to reduce the level of purification treatment required in the production of drinking water abstracted from it.

These objectives are at risk when increasing pollution concentrations, caused by human activity, could lead to additional treatment being needed in the future and where measures are needed to reduce pollutant concentrations. For groundwater bodies only, not meeting these objectives may also mean the water body is classed as poor chemical status.

Safeguard zones are non-statutory catchment areas identified for at risk drinking water protected areas where land use management practices and other activities can affect the quality of the raw water abstracted for drinking water supply. Measures to prevent and reduce pollution are targeted within these zones.

Economically significant species (shellfish waters)

Some areas of estuarine and coastal waters are designated as shellfish waters. Shellfish waters are areas requiring protection or improvement to support shellfish life and growth in order to contribute to the high quality of shellfish for people to eat. In addition to generic objectives for surface waters (good status, no deterioration and so forth) there is a requirement for environmental objectives to be set for shellfish waters such as are necessary or desirable to improve or protect the shellfish water. The additional objective for shellfish waters is a microbial standard of 300 or fewer E. Coli per 100ml of shellfish flesh that the Environment Agency must endeavour to observe.

Recreational waters (bathing waters)

Bathing waters are designated waters that large numbers of bathers use. The objective for bathing waters is to preserve, protect and improve the quality of the environment and to protect human health by meeting the ‘sufficient’ water quality standards of the Bathing Waters Regulations 2013 and to take such realistic and proportionate measures considered appropriate with a view to increasing the number of bathing waters classified as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’.

Nutrient sensitive areas (nitrate vulnerable zones)

The objective of the Nitrate Pollution Prevention Regulations 2015 is to reduce water pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources and to prevent further such pollution occurring. Nitrate vulnerable zones are designated where nitrate concentrations in water bodies are high or increasing, or water bodies are, or may become, eutrophic due to agricultural nitrate pollution. Farmers within nitrate vulnerable zones must comply with mandatory action programme measures to reduce agricultural nitrate losses. In addition, a code of good agricultural practice has been established for voluntary implementation by all farmers.

Nutrient sensitive areas (Urban Waste Water Treatment Regulations 1994)

The objective of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Regulations 1994 is to protect the environment from the adverse effects of waste water discharges. Sensitive areas are designated for water bodies affected by eutrophication or where surface water abstraction is affected by elevated nitrate concentrations. Reductions or emission standards for nutrients in sewage effluent must be met within areas sensitive to nutrient pollution.

European sites protected areas

A European site is a Special Area of Conservation or Special Protection Area. In previous river basin planning rounds these were referred to Natura 2000 sites, but following European Union exit, these sites in the UK no longer form part of the European Union’s Natura 2000 network. In England the network of these sites is now referred to as the national site network.

The objective for the national site network of European sites is to contribute to maintaining or restoring their habitats and species at favourable conservation status across their natural range in the UK. Each European site must contribute to this objective.

A European site can also be a protected area. The provisions of the WFD Regulations only relate to areas where the maintenance or improvement of the status of water is an important factor in the protection of the habitats or species. Therefore, only water-dependent European sites are defined as protected areas under the WFD Regulations.

Ramsar sites are wetland sites of international importance that have been designated under the criteria of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands for containing representative, rare and unique wetland types or for their importance in conserving biological diversity. While they are not protected areas under the WFD Regulations they are all included in the river basin planning process as a matter of government policy.

2.2.3. Artificial and heavily modified water bodies

England is densely populated. Humans have been altering the water environment for centuries for social and economic reasons. Where these alterations are still necessary, there are things that can be done to mitigate their environmental impacts and ensure the water bodies can support a functioning biological ecosystem.

In recognition of these changes to the water environment for socio-economic reasons, water bodies can be designated as either artificial or heavily modified water bodies (regulation 15 of the WFD Regulations). These designations recognise that the waters do not have the same biological systems as their natural counterparts.

Heavily modified water bodies are surface water bodies which as a result of physical alterations for beneficial human activity are substantially changed in character and cannot therefore meet a ‘natural’ water body target of good ecological status. The beneficial human activity is called a ‘protected use’. In this context physical alterations mean changes to the size, slope, the amount of water, form and shape of the riverbed and banks of a water body.

Artificial water bodies are surface water bodies which have been created in a location where no water body existed before, and which have not been created by the direct physical alteration, movement, or realignment of an existing water body. For instance, many reservoirs and canals. These water bodies also need an associated current protected use to be considered an artificial water body.

There are 11 freshwater and 5 estuarine and coastal protected uses that are used to designate a water body as an artificial or heavily modified water body.

For freshwater these are:

drinking water
water regulation
flood protection
navigation, including ports
power generation
recreation
land drainage
urbanisation
other human sustainable development
irrigation
wider environment

For estuarine and coastal waters these are:

flood protection
navigation
coast protection
ports and harbours
shell and fin fisheries

For those surface water bodies that have been designated as an artificial or heavily modified water body, the physical environment has been altered to such a degree that the attainment of good ecological status is not possible without having a significant adverse impact on a protected use or the wider environment. In these water bodies the default environmental objective is good ecological potential.

Good ecological potential provides a sustainable balance between the socio-economic, heritage or conservation interests (or both) that cause physical constraints on a water body and doing all that can be done (taking into account the cost and benefits) to improve the ecological condition of the water body. Due to the enormous range and combinations of physical modifications that occur in surface waters (that all have varying impacts on the biology), it is not possible to define biological targets with confidence as in natural surface water bodies. Instead, the presence or absence of mitigation measures is used to classify these water bodies.

For a modified water to be at good ecological potential it needs all its relevant mitigation measures to be in place and the physico-chemical elements also to be at good status. These are described as the relevant mitigation measures in a mitigation measures assessment for each artificial or heavily modified water body.

Artificial and heavily modified water bodies are still required to aim to achieve good chemical status and, if also designated as a protected area, the protected area objectives.

Each water body will have a unique set of uses whose impacts will vary. The type and amount of mitigation action used to address the issues is not fixed and needs to be tailored to the individual characteristics of the water body.

2.2.4. Exemptions to the environmental objectives

Alternative objectives

In specific circumstances (set out in the WFD Regulations) deviation from achieving the default water body status objectives is allowed. Objectives which are different from the default objectives are referred to as alternative objectives.

The use of alternative objectives is the mechanism which the WFD Regulations provide for:

considering other environmental, social and economic priorities alongside water management priorities
prioritising measures over successive river basin management planning cycles

The alternative objectives and their conditions are the only relevant considerations when justifying the prioritisation of action under the WFD Regulations.

The types of alternative objective are:

an extended deadline (for example, achieving good status by 2027; regulation 16)
a less stringent objective (for example, achieving moderate status by 2015; regulation 17)

In some circumstances both may apply to a water body objective (for instance, achieving moderate status by 2027).

The reasons that have been used for setting alternative objectives are described in the guide to alternative objectives.

Temporary deterioration in status

In certain circumstances (set out in regulation 18) a temporary deterioration in status of a water body, caused by exceptional or unforeseen events such as extreme floods, prolonged droughts or accidents, is allowed. The exception does not apply to those effects of extreme floods and prolonged droughts which could reasonably have been planned for and prevented, nor does it apply in the case of accidents which could reasonably have been foreseen.

This exemption requires responsible authorities to demonstrate that:

all practicable steps were taken to prevent further deterioration in status
the measures to be taken under exceptional circumstances are included in the programme of measures and will not compromise the recovery of the quality of the body of water once the circumstances are over
all practicable measures are taken to restore the body of water to its status prior to the effects of those circumstances as soon as reasonably practicable
a summary of the effects of the circumstances and the measures taken are included in the next update of the river basin management plan

Prolonged droughts

The Environment Agency is responsible for conserving and securing proper use of water resources in England and protecting the environment. As the regulator of the water environment, the Environment Agency has overall responsibility for safeguarding the environment during drought and overseeing the actions water companies take to secure public water supplies. Water companies are ultimately responsible for managing water supplies to meet the needs of customers.

It is the role of the Environment Agency to monitor, report and act to reduce the impact of drought on the natural environment. The Environment Agency takes specific actions to manage environmental droughts, where low river flows and lake levels have the potential to cause damage to the natural environment and ecology. Water companies are also responsible for maintaining supply while protecting the natural environment. The decision to take action is based on a range of factors, including present and forecast weather conditions and how effective the measure would be. The sequence of measures will differ as drought events need to be managed on an individual basis.

Prolonged and severe droughts may affect water body status through reduced river flows, damage to or loss of habitat, alterations to bio-chemical composition of the river and impact on water-dependent species. A drought is a natural, unpredictable phenomenon and it is not always possible, even with the implementation of appropriate mitigation measures, to avoid the effects of drought or prevent temporary deterioration in water body status throughout a prolonged drought.

Water company drought plans set out the measures that should be taken to minimise environmental impacts and maximise available supplies during a drought, without causing deterioration where possible. Effective monitoring of environmental indicators also helps to differentiate between the natural impacts of drought and the impacts caused by human activity such as the implementation of drought permits and orders. This is important to show that any temporary deterioration resulted from the natural impacts of the drought.

If the impacts of a drought temporarily cause deterioration to water body status and all the criteria in the WFD Regulations can be met, this defence can be used as a justification why an objective set in a river basin management plan has not been met. This is always done on a case by case basis.

Extreme floods

The Environment Agency is responsible for providing flood forecasting and warnings to the public in England. This involves monitoring rainfall, river levels and sea conditions. Combined with weather data and tidal reports the Environment Agency provides local area forecasts on the possibility of flooding and its likely severity.

Severe floods may have an impact on water body status through effects such as the loss of habitat (for example, by scouring of sediments and in-stream vegetation), the physical displacement of species or increased inputs of pollutants including sediment. These impacts may be localised and of insufficient magnitude to affect the status of an entire water body.

Accidents

The Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) (England) Regulations 2015 implement the Environmental Liability Directive in England. Under these Regulations, environmental damage includes water damage which is defined as damage to surface waters or groundwater causing a change to water body status.

This means either a deterioration of water status overall or a deterioration in status of any of the individual elements or parameters used to classify the water body.

Adverse effects that are short-term or limited in their geographical extent are unlikely to amount to environmental damage.

When environmental damage is confirmed, the Regulations include a remediation objective to require remediation as if the damage had not occurred.

New modifications or new sustainable development

Under regulation 19, new modifications or new sustainable human development activities may be permitted even though they might compromise the achievement of certain environmental objectives. Certain new developments provide valuable benefits to society that outweighs the environmental or societal benefits of achieving some environmental objectives. Such benefits may include those provided by activities such as:

public water supply
flood defence
navigation and transport
urban development
rural land management

Any modifications or activities considered likely to compromise environmental objectives must undergo a thorough assessment before they can be permitted under regulation 19 and must also ensure other related objectives are not compromised as a result of the proposed activities. All the requirements of the WFD Regulations must apply. An assessment must provide evidence to satisfy the following conditions:

all practicable steps are taken to mitigate the adverse impact on the status of the water body
the benefits to human health or human safety or sustainable development outweigh the benefits of achieving the environmental objectives or the activity is of overriding public interest
there are no other means of providing the services offered by the activity that are technically feasible or of a proportionate cost and provides a significantly better environmental option

In addition, the reasons for the modifications or activities must be specifically explained in the river basin management plans and relevant objectives are reviewed every 6 years.

As well as providing information on exemptions that have already been granted under regulation 19, the plans also contain information on schemes where regulation 19 assessments may be required but the assessments have not yet been carried out or completed. These possible future applications of regulation 19 are included in the plans to support public participation in the decision making processes and to ensure that the use of exemptions is transparent.

The Environment Agency works with public bodies, developers and its own operational functions to ensure the environmental objectives in river basin management plans are met.

2.3. Appropriate authorities for river basin management planning

In England, the appropriate authority for the implementation of the WFD Regulations is the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The appropriate authority:

has general responsibility for ensuring the WFD Regulations are given effect
has specific responsibilities for ensuring that appropriate economic analysis is carried out, approving proposals for environmental objectives and programmes of measures and approving the river basin management plans
may give guidance or directions to the Environment Agency, and any other public body, on the practical implementation of the WFD Regulations
has the duty to exercise its relevant functions so as to secure compliance with the requirements of the Water Framework Directive, Environmental Quality Standards Directive and Groundwater Directive

The Environment Agency is the appropriate agency for producing and updating the river basin management plans in England. The Environment Agency:

is responsible for identifying, characterising and in certain circumstances monitoring and identifying measures where water quality is deteriorating and establishing a register of those waters and other protected areas
has to prepare proposals for environmental objectives and programmes of measures for each river basin district and prepare draft river basin management plans
must also ensure public participation in preparation of the river basin management plans and make certain information required under the WFD Regulations accessible to the public
has the duty to exercise its relevant functions so as to secure compliance with the requirements of the Water Framework Directive, Environmental Quality Standards Directive and Groundwater Directive

Secretary of State

The Secretary of State is legally part of the Crown and is not established in legislation.

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Seacole Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

Environment Agency

The Environment Agency is a non-departmental public body established by the Environment Act 1995.

Environment Agency
Horizon House
Deanery Road
Bristol
BS1 5AH

2.4. River basin planning

River basin planning in the Environment Agency follows a plan-do-check-review approach. This is an internationally recognised ‘best practice’ approach used across the world for all types of planning, including environmental planning.

The Environment Agency applies this approach through its Environmental Planning and Delivery Framework, a continuous, cyclical planning and programming approach that is punctuated at intervals by the formal consultations and reporting of progress required by the WFD Regulations, supported by ongoing engagement with partners and other stakeholders.

This cyclical approach and the intelligent adaptation of environmental outcomes is a key part of taking a more systems approach to environmental planning. It also provides an opportunity for new ideas and innovative thinking to be considered as part of the decisions. Environmental outcomes are not just set once; they are adapted and re-set.

The ongoing river basin planning process is broken down into the 6 stages of the Environmental Planning and Delivery framework as follows:

Define the aspirational outcome we and those we work with want to achieve and how to achieve it

The aspirational outcomes to be achieved through river basin planning are the environmental objectives set out in the WFD Regulations, including aiming to achieve good status in all waters.

The define stage also includes defining the standards and targets against which status and other objectives are assessed and the geographical scale and boundaries to which the planning applies (such as river basin districts and water bodies).

Define involves setting out how the rest of the Environmental Planning and Delivery framework will operate and includes the Working Together consultation step in the development of river basin management plans.

Establish the current and past condition of the water environment

The establish stage describes the current condition of the environment including any current or historical trends, that is. improving, declining or being maintained. Assessments identify whether there is a current environmental problem, which could include the failure of a protected area to achieve its objective, a water body that has deteriorated in status or a water body that is assessed as being at less than good status.

The condition of European site protected areas is assessed by Natural England. The condition of all other protected areas is assessed by the Environment Agency. The current status of water bodies is assessed mainly through a process of classification. Comparison of these results over time will indicate whether any deterioration in that status is occurring. Classification results are one of the pieces of information that can indicate whether there is an environmental problem in a water body but other information, including information from stakeholders, can also be used to help determine whether or not, there is a problem.

The reasons for any of the current environmental problems are identified, such as reasons for not achieving good status (RNAGs).

Finally, the Environment Agency also establishes and updates the baseline against which future changes in the status of water bodies will be assessed, particularly deteriorations in status.

Forecast the future condition of the environment

To adapt to the climate emergency and other pressures such as population growth, land use change, invasive species and emerging chemicals it is necessary to plan for the future condition of the environment, not just the current condition. If the plausible range of future pressures is understood, action can be taken to control, accept or redirect interventions in order to achieve the environmental objectives. Acting early can be cheaper and more cost-effective than waiting for impacts to occur. Considering future risks to achieving the environmental objectives ensures that environmental planning and management, and the interventions undertaken, are appropriate to address future conditions and are as future-proof as possible.

Decide what action needs to happen to deliver the desired outcomes

Having identified current problems and future risks, the technically feasible solutions that are available to resolve the problem are identified. Where more than one technically feasible measure is available, the most cost effective approach is selected. All of the measures required to fully resolve the problem are identified.

The cost effective and technically feasible measures needed to achieve good status across all water bodies in each catchment are grouped together and subject to economic appraisal to identify those measures where implementation is justified because the benefits to society from implementing the measures exceed the costs of putting the measures in place.

While it is important to understand the costs and benefits of the measures needed to achieve protected area objectives and those to prevent deterioration in water body status, these objectives must still be achieved, even where costs outweigh benefits.

The outcomes that will be achieved from implementing the measures are used to identify the best future condition or status that could be achieved for protected areas and water bodies. The ‘best’ future status, which may be less than good status (that is a less stringent objective), is the target status in the water body status objective in the plans.

When this future condition or status can be achieved is determined by considering how and when the measures to achieve the objectives will be funded and implemented and the time it will take for the environment to recover. This provides the target date in the water body status objective.

Act on implementation planning, prioritisation and scheduling of action

Whilst some actions (that is, policy development and national infrastructure) will be delivered nationally, local delivery plans will need to be developed collaboratively with partners. Implementation should be as co-ordinated and integrated as possible to ensure one action does not create unintended consequences elsewhere and to ensure cost-effective implementation.

Not all action can be planned. Opportunistic action due to changes in management approaches, policy, partnership involvement, financing, and land access will continue to play an important part of delivering the environmental objectives in the river basin management plans.

Check progress and refine actions

Every 6 years compliance with the objectives set in the river basin management plans are reviewed. Where necessary updates to the objectives and measures are identified as part of the ongoing planning cycle. This is an essential component of taking a continuous improvement approach to environmental planning. It ensures that all partners continue to learn as progress towards the desired outcome is made, effectiveness of interventions is improved and future investment is optimised.

The check step provides the information to report on progress, effectiveness and to justify future expenditure and funding as part of reviewing and updating the river basin management plans. The economic assessment is also provided to government, setting out information on the sectors that are responsible for the pressures on protected areas and water bodies and the costs of the measures needed to achieve the objectives.

2.5. Ministerial guidance on river basin planning

In England statutory guidance on the practical implementation on the planning process, the role of the competent authority and requirements for the plans are laid out in the ministerial guidance on river basin planning.

This guidance was updated in September 2021 and where no special Solway Tweed River Basin District arrangement is in place or required, it has informed the review and update of the Solway Tweed River Basin Management Plan.

2.6. Building back better together

In 2013, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) launched the catchment based approach. The catchment based approach promotes collaborative working at a river catchment scale for environmental, social and economic benefits.

Defra launched the 25 Year Environment Plan in January 2018, setting out how to deliver an improved environment within a generation. This included exploring, through a number of ‘pioneer’ projects, more integrated local delivery between catchment partnerships and other local planning initiatives such as local authority planning. The learning from these projects is being reviewed and assimilated into new ways of integrating local delivery through approaches such as ‘natural capital accounting’.

The Environment Act 2021 contains a number of new initiatives such as Biodiversity Net Gain, Nature Recovery Network, Local Nature Recovery Strategies, and links to Local Authority spatial planning. These, coupled with the catchment based approach and a new Environmental Land Management Scheme for agriculture will strengthen local placed based delivery in England. The Environment Act 2021 will also deliver long-term targets for water and biodiversity.

The government is committed to the delivery of more homes, supported by the infrastructure and jobs needed to tackle inequality and create prosperous places, levelling-up the nation. The spatial planning system, and associated growth and infrastructure funding, provides opportunities to deliver net zero resilient places that are good for people, nature and economy.

The Environment Agency helps shape strategic plans for growth, including local authority Local Plans and provides timely technical advice as a statutory consultee for planning applications and nationally significant infrastructure projects. The Environment Agency also works with partners to champion the environment, and investment in it, through place-based projects and national programmes.

Increased uptake of nature based solutions, including blue and green infrastructure, can provide multi-functional benefits including slowing the flow of flood waters, enhancing biodiversity and through recreation, increasing opportunities for the health and well-being of local communities. We cannot do this alone. Local authorities, alongside the wider development sector are key partners to successfully implementing river basin management plan objectives through spatial planning, helping deliver sustainable development.

2.7. Recovery of costs for water services

2.7.1. Economic regulation

The water industry in England is regulated to protect consumers and the environment. Ofwat is the independent economic regulator for the water industry in England and Wales. Every five years Ofwat sets price limits based on water company business plans, produced in dialogue with the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, Natural England, Consumer Council for Water, customers and others. These business plans set out in detail how much each company needs to charge its customers to provide water and sewerage services (where relevant) and to comply with its statutory obligations. Thus the costs of providing resilient water and sewerage services are recovered through customer bills.

2.7.2. Abstraction charges

Where abstractors hold a licence various charges apply which cover the cost of managing water resources, and include a compensation element which funds licence changes to address unsustainable abstraction. This is done through the abstraction charges scheme which is made up of a standard unit charge and the environmental improvement unit charge.

2.7.3. Water metering

One way water companies can help to reduce the environmental costs of public water supply and provide appropriate incentives is to make the cost of supplying water more visible to consumers by encouraging households and businesses to install water meters.

Question 3

3.  Defining and describing the water environment

Accepted Answer

3.1. River basin districts and water bodies

The WFD Regulations cover all waters, including inland surface waters, groundwater, estuaries and coastal waters, independent of size and characteristics.

For the purpose of implementing the WFD Regulations, waters are assigned to geographical or administrative units: the river basin, river basin district and water body.

The river basin is the area of land from which all surface run-off flows through a sequence of streams, rivers and, possibly, lakes into the sea at a single river mouth or estuary.

The river basin district is the main unit for management of river basins under the WFD Regulations. River basin districts in England were identified by the Secretary of State in 2003. A river basin district includes the area of land and sea made up of one or more neighbouring river basins together with their associated groundwater and coastal waters.

Water bodies are the units used for reporting and assessing compliance with the principal environmental objectives of the WFD Regulations. The environmental objectives apply to water bodies and so the main purpose of identifying water bodies is to enable status to be accurately described and compared to the environmental objectives set out in the WFD Regulations.

The WFD Regulations (Schedule 1) define a surface water body as a ‘discrete and significant element’ of surface water such as a lake or reservoir or entire (or part) stream, river or canal, estuary or stretch of coastal water (out to 1 nautical mile, and for chemical status only, this extends to the limit of territorial waters which may extend up to 12 nautical miles).

A groundwater body is a distinct volume of groundwater within an aquifer or aquifers.

Water bodies in England were first identified as part of a ‘characterisation’ process in 2003.

Water body categories, such as groundwater or coastal waters, are delineated as a discrete area and are shown as this total area for reporting purposes.

Whilst all lengths of river, stream or drainage channel in the defined catchment areas of a water body are protected and managed, reporting uses a river line within that catchment derived from the ‘detailed river network’. This river line is purely a reporting network and it is this river line which appears on maps in the river basin management plans.

The WFD Regulations cover all bodies of surface water. Where a stretch of water is too small to be formally identified as a water body, or is too small to show up on a map of the water body, it is still protected by law from pollution, modification and abstraction and can still be improved where local actions and assessments deem it to be a priority.

3.1.1. Using catchments for river basin planning in England

Taking a catchment based approach helps to bridge the gap between management planning at river basin district level and activity at the local water body scale. The catchment scale is large enough to add value at a strategic level but small enough to encourage local scale engagement and action.

In England, each river basin district is divided into a number of management catchments to facilitate presentation of data and information. These are large catchments with many, often interconnected, water bodies. They are based on the catchments used for managing the availability of water for abstraction and flood risk management.

These management catchments have been further divided into operational catchments covering a small number of water bodies (typically 1 to 10) based around the same local geography or sharing specific pressures. Economic appraisals have been based on operational catchments.

3.1.2. Surface water body types and reference conditions

The sorts of animals and plants found in upland, rocky, fast-flowing streams are naturally very different to those found in lowland, slow flowing, meandering rivers. Therefore, to predict the animals that would be found in high status surface water bodies they are grouped into different types according to their physical and chemical characteristics.

Descriptions covering the sorts of plants and animals expected to be found in the different types of water bodies in undisturbed conditions have been produced for each type or group of types. These types are the ones that have been used in the characterisation of each river basin district. In some cases there are no sites in reference condition in the UK and descriptions are based on similar types in other European countries, extrapolation from modelling studies, or historic data or expert opinion (or both). For some methods more detailed site-specific reference conditions have been used.

Reference conditions and the conditions found in high status waters are the same. The Ministerial directions on environmental standards give the values for high status for biological and physico-chemical elements and include screening approaches for high status hydrology and morphology. To be in overall reference condition or high status, a water body needs to comply with all the criteria monitored: biology, physico-chemical, hydrological regime, morphological and chemical criteria.

3.2. Assessing the current condition of the water environment

3.2.1. Protected areas

Protected areas are parts of the environment requiring special protection for the protection of their surface water and groundwater quality or for the protection of habitats and species directly dependent on water. The Environment Agency has monitoring programmes in place for assessing compliance for Bathing Waters, and, under WFD Regulations, Drinking Water Protected Areas. The Environment Agency monitor some attributes for water-dependent European sites, but Natural England is responsible for assessing and reporting status for these sites. The Food Standard Agency’s food hygiene classification monitoring is used to assess compliance for shellfish water protected areas. Other information can be used to assess compliance in protected areas including conceptual models and modelling data, some of which are from third parties such as water companies.

3.2.2. Water body status monitoring

Monitoring sites are used to establish the status of water bodies in terms of their ecology, chemistry, hydromorphology and groundwater level.

In surface waters, a small network of surveillance monitoring sites is used to provide information on long-term natural and anthropogenic trends. In rivers and lakes additional, monitoring is used to classify water bodies according to the pressures acting on the environment. In coastal and estuarine waters the operational monitoring programme has traditionally focussed on two priority pressures, nutrients and chemicals from point source discharges.

A groundwater quality monitoring network meets the monitoring requirements for chemical status and trend assessment and a groundwater level monitoring network is used to meet the requirements of quantitative status assessment.

3.2.3. Assessment of water body status

Water bodies are assessed by classifying data collected from monitoring and if appropriate, other sources. A classification will show whether the quality of the environment is good, or where it may need improvement. The assessment is used for long-term planning purposes so it is important for us to make an assessment that is representative of status over a long period of time rather than an assessment based on intermittent conditions that have no long-term significance.

Classification assessment is done on a range of quality elements relating to the biology and chemical quality of surface waters and quantitative and chemical quality of groundwater. To achieve good ecological status or potential, good chemical status or good groundwater status every single element assessed must be at good status or better. If one element is below its threshold for good status, then the whole water body’s status is classed as less than good.

Classification is just one part of the evidence base that helps to focus efforts on those water bodies where improvement measures might be needed. Additional information is sometimes required to assess whether a classification result is really indicative of an environmental problem; this is known as a weight of evidence approach. Additional evidence may also indicate where problems exist which are not apparent through classification results alone.

For surface water bodies there are two separate classifications: ecological and chemical.

Chemical status

The approach to chemical status has changed since 2015 and now a more advanced and sophisticated approach to classification is used. This helps to more accurately reflect the accumulation of some of the more persistent substances (termed ubiquitous, persistent, toxic and bioaccumulative or uPBT substances), which can be underestimated by monitoring water alone.

Biota environmental quality standards (concentrations in aquatic animals) are used to assess uPBTs. These biota standards protect both wildlife and people from harmful substances that can accumulate through the food chain. Concentrations are measured of these substances in fish, crustaceans (signal crayfish) and molluscs (blue mussel).

The biota monitoring network is small as it is neither practical nor ethical to extensively assess chemicals in biota. If uPBT substances are only classified in the specific water bodies where we do monitor biota, there would be little overall change in status and this would mask the significance of the results from the biota network. So we extrapolate the locations we monitor to represent much larger geographical areas for classification purposes.

For most uPBT substances it is not possible to predict concentrations in biota from water monitoring data. This means we are not able to use water monitoring as an alternative.

However, for perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) it has been possible to establish a relationship between levels observed in river water and those in fish. Consequently, water monitoring data is used, where biota data is not available, to predict exceedance of the biota environmental quality standard in fish. As concentrations of PFOS are more locally variable than other uPBTs water quality models have also been used. These models have been calibrated using extensive environmental data from water industry chemical investigations where there are gaps in monitoring. The same approach has also been adopted for cypermethrin (an insecticide).

Biota environmental quality standards assess substances that have accumulated in animals over long durations, so we also apply maximum allowable concentrations in water, when available, to protect wildlife over short exposure periods. This is particularly significant for poly aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in estuaries.

Three groups of global pollutants cause the significant change in chemical classification:

polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs are brominated flame retardants present commercial products)
mercury
PFOS

PFOS belongs to a large, diverse group of man-made substances known collectively as per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). There are potentially several thousand PFAS currently in use around the world. They are sometimes called forever chemicals because of their extreme persistence in the environment. Because of their non-stick, water repellent and oil resistant characteristics, they have been used in the production of a very wide range of products including cooking utensils, stain-proofing textiles, food packaging and fire-fighting foams.

These results are not unexpected as other countries around the world report similar levels of these substances. Although these chemicals are all now controlled, they have been widely used in our homes and businesses in the past. There are international agreements to reduce emissions but because these chemicals persist and do not break down quickly they will be in the environment for decades to come.

There is little underlying change in chemical status for other substances. If these three global pollutants are excluded together with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which are significant in estuaries and cypermethrin, which is included in our assessment of chemical status for the first time, about 97% of water bodies still achieve good chemical status.

The maps of chemical status can be viewed with and without uPBTs on the Water Environment Hub to show the impact of these changes.

For groundwater bodies there are two separate classifications: chemical status and quantitative status. In addition to assessing status there is also a requirement to identify and report where the quality of groundwater is deteriorating as a result of pollution which may lead to a future deterioration in status.

Considering wider evidence of an environmental problem

As noted earlier, classification is just one part of the evidence available on the condition of the water environment and additional information is sometimes required to assess whether a classification result is really indicative of an environmental problem in a water body.

For surface waters the certainty that an element or water body is at less than good status is expressed using the 3 categories of very certain, quite certain and uncertain. These definitions are based on statistical certainty from analysis of the monitoring data used to derive the classification results: very certain (greater than or equal to 95%), quite certain (greater than or equal to 75% less than 95%), uncertain (greater than 50% less than 75%).

The level of certainty that an element is at less than good status can influence the justification of the measures needed to resolve the problem. In general, justifying costly or targeted regulatory measures requires a higher degree of certainty that there is a problem than is needed to justify low cost, voluntary type measures. This reflects the relative risk of wasting resources and investment in taking unnecessary action.

Classification and statistical certainty derived from operational monitoring may be unable, on their own, to provide the certainty needed to justify the measures required, particularly if the failure is caused by pollution from diffuse or intermittent sources. In these cases additional evidence is used to make a pragmatic, qualitative judgement of the certainty that there is a problem to solve, based on a weight of evidence approach. This additional evidence could come from pollution incident or investigative monitoring data or from a catchment-scale assessment of available evidence and information.

The classification results provide part of that weight of evidence but it is important to note that the additional weight of evidence approach to improve certainty that there is, or is not, a problem to solve does not over-ride the formal classification result.

Weight of evidence assessments for nutrients and eutrophication

Eutrophication is when there is too much nutrient in waters, causing algae and plants to grow excessively. This affects the quality of the water and how it can be used, as well as damaging the local wildlife.

The nutrient standards used for water body status classifications are based on an understanding of the links between nutrients and the biological impacts associated with eutrophication. There is uncertainty in the ability to use this knowledge to predict the impacts in particular water bodies; exceeding the nutrient standard alone is considered insufficient to judge the risk of impacts on the biology. As a result, the Environment Agency uses a weight of evidence approach in assessing eutrophication and targeting control measures.

The one-out-all-out principle for water body status classification means that if nutrients are at less than good status then a water body is classed as moderate status, regardless of whether the biology is less than good status. Using the weight of evidence approach the Environment Agency assesses the evidence of the nutrients and also their impacts, using the plant and algal quality elements sensitive to nutrients and the certainty that these are, or are not, less than good status. Wider evidence of eutrophication, for example, from investigations, is also taken into account, including information from stakeholders, to increase certainty. This assessment, of certainty of eutrophication, does not affect the classification result but informs decisions on subsequent measures as described above, with high certainty being required if costly targeted regulatory measures would be needed to address the problem. This approach makes best use of the available evidence and provides a link between standards, classification, investigations and measures.

The Environment Agency has developed eutrophication assessments for water bodies at risk from nutrients in rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters. These assessments have been used in targeting the measures to tackle nutrients in the river basin management plans. They are particularly important to the targeting of expensive regulatory measures such as phosphorus reduction at sewage treatment works.

3.3. Challenges

The challenges are the main issues that limit the uses and potential benefits of managing the water environment in a sustainable way. They have been identified based on the results of public consultation and assessments of the pressures caused by people now, in the past, and predicted in the future.

The challenges that affect waters across England are briefly described below. Each challenge text links to more detailed information including, documents detailing the pressures and other associated information related to that challenge.

3.3.1. Climate emergency

Climate change is caused by human-induced greenhouse gas emissions which are causing global heating. Global average temperatures have increased over the 20th century and are now over 1^oC warmer than the pre-industrial average. This is resulting in sea level rise and extreme weather related events, such as storms, floods, heat waves, droughts and wildfires. This threatens lives and livelihoods, wildlife and the provision of key goods and services that the water environment provides such as drinking water, recreation, navigation, and fisheries.

Reducing the impact of climate change and putting in place measures to adapt to it are critical. Action must be taken now. Everybody needs to work collaboratively to build resilience to future warming scenarios through long-term and evidence-based planning.

For further information on this challenge, see The climate emergency: challenges for the water environment document.

3.3.2. Biodiversity crisis

The combination of climate change, how land, water and seas are used and managed and how nature is valued have led to a major crisis for nature – a biodiversity crisis.

The UK has lost 90% of its wetland habitats in the last 100 years, and over 10% of the freshwater and wetland species are threatened with extinction. These rare and valuable habitats are degraded, for example only 17% of chalk streams currently meet good ecological status. Urgent action is needed to deal with the loss of species and habitats.

Some of the most important habitats and species are specially protected, including via designation of areas of land such as sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) and European sites. Many of these sites are reliant on having enough, and suitable quality water to sustain their special habitats and species. However, many have become isolated by, and in some cases their ecology damaged or threatened by, land and water use, and other issues such as invasive non-native species. These pressures can act either directly on the sites or within their wider catchments.

Action must be taken to reduce the pressures the country’s habitats and species face and increase their quantity, quality and connectedness.

For further information on this challenge, see the Biodiversity: challenges for the water environment and European site protected areas: challenges for the water environment documents.

3.3.3. Changes to water levels and flows

Without water none of us can survive. But how water gets to people’s taps and the effect that has on the environment is something most of us don’t think about. Water taken from rivers and aquifers benefits all parts of the economy, from farmers to energy producers.

There are areas where too much water is taken from rivers and aquifers and as the climate changes and the population grows, demand for water will also grow. More water is now taken from rivers and groundwater than is put back or provided when it rains. This damages rivers, springs, aquifers, lakes and wetlands, because it reduces where wildlife can live. It becomes more difficult for fish to reach the places they lay their eggs (their spawning grounds) and to where they travel to feed and mate.

For further information on this challenge see the Water levels and flows: challenges for the water environment document and the European site protected areas: challenges for the water environment document.

3.3.4. Invasive non-native species

An invasive non-native species is an animal or plant introduced, either deliberately or accidentally, into a place where it does not belong. They can hitch hike a ride on goods or other animals or even travel in the ballast of ships. Not all non-native species are damaging; for instance non-native food crops can have huge benefits. A species only becomes ‘invasive’ if it has negative effects on the environment. Global trade, tourism and transport increase the problem world-wide, and the problem is increasing every year.

It is estimated that the UK has over 2000 established non-native species and the cost to society that they pose can be enormous. For example, Japanese knotweed grows in thick dense clusters that increase riverbank erosion and may reduce the capacity of river channels, possibly leading to increased flooding. But the effects are not just economic. Invasive non-native species can also damage animal and human health and the way people live.

For further information on this challenge, see the:

3.3.5. Physical modifications

For thousands of years people have physically modified rivers, estuaries, lakes and the coastline to support farming, industry, transport, including shipping, and by building places to live. Some of those physical changes are still essential. They help to protect us from flooding and support the abstraction of raw water for drinking water supply and the production of the food we eat. Other changes have helped create the iconic landscapes and architecture many people value. But as rivers have been diverted, covered and straightened, and our coastlines and lake shores modified, the environment has also been damaged. The legacy of structures and other changes means many waters and their adjacent landscapes do not provide healthy habitats for wildlife. Additionally, many are unable to adapt to future changes, such as flooding, erosion and drought. This places greater pressure on our water management efforts.

For further information on this challenge see the following documents:

3.3.6. Pollution from abandoned mines

People have been mining for coal, metal and other minerals since the Bronze Age. Mining also helped start the industrial revolution, reaching its peak in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, abandoned mines pollute more than 3% of rivers, harming wildlife, threatening drinking water supplies from groundwater, and impacting the economy.

Legally, nobody can be held responsible for permitting ongoing pollution from mines abandoned before 2000, therefore Government has to intervene. Programmes of measures for abandoned coal and metal mines are trying to deal with this legacy of water pollution.

For further information on this challenge, see the Mine waters: challenges for the water environment document.

3.3.7. Pollution from agriculture and rural areas

Rivers, streams and groundwater are an essential part of rural life and the rural economy. However, the way farmers manage land, livestock, and use fertilisers and pesticides is a major reason why rivers and groundwater are polluted.

Farming and rural land use is ever changing. The farming industry faces big challenges as it adapts to future political reality and to climate change. Farmers need to farm more sustainably to ensure soils, air, and water quality improve and are protected whilst still producing enough food for us all.

For further information on this challenge, see the:

3.3.8. Pollution from towns, cities and transport

More than half the people in the world now live in cities. In England that number is far greater, with 83% of people now living in urban areas. The environment faces some of its greatest challenges from urbanisation and transport. Pollution from towns and cities is damaging 18% of rivers. That’s most of the waters in England’s urban areas.

Pollution comes from waste, drainage, roads, transport, industries and housing. Historic pollution from factories and heavy industry has also left a legacy contaminating land, soils and water.

For further information on this challenge, see the following documents:

3.3.9. Pollution from water industry waste water

The water industry plays a vital role in making sure that waste water from homes and businesses is safely treated and returned to the environment. Waste water pollution has in the past damaged rivers, streams and coastal waters very badly. But the situation has improved a lot in the last 30 years. This is because the water industry has invested its customer’s money in better collection and treatment systems, and improved how they work with local people.

Despite these improvements, water industry activities are still one of the main reasons why the water environment is not in a good enough condition. Some of this is because of pressures linked to population growth, climate change and urban creep. Work is underway to address these problems but more is needed. The water industry needs to further improve their treatment systems and reduce incidents of untreated sewage being discharged to rivers and coastal waters.

For further information on this challenge, see the following documents:

3.3.10. Plastics

Many people are more aware than ever that plastic has an impact on the seas and wildlife but it’s not just the plastic pollution we all can see on beaches. Because of the way plastics are produced, used and disposed of, these plastics can also pollute lakes, rivers and streams, soil and the air.

Micro-plastics are a growing concern but one which needs more research. Micro-plastics come from tyres and synthetic textiles. Each time you use a washing machine thousands of particles of micro-plastics are released. These tiny particles are entering the environment in large quantities and it’s not yet understood what the potential consequences will be of this on people’s health, the food chain and wildlife could be.

For further information on this challenge of see the Plastics: challenges for the water environment document.

3.3.11. Chemicals, including those that are ubiquitous, persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (uPBTs)

Chemicals can impact on the aquatic ecosystem in the following ways:

aquatic life (fish, plants and invertebrates) from direct exposure to chemicals in England’s waters
human health and higher wildlife predators from chemicals that may accumulate via the aquatic food chain
surface and groundwater sources where chemical contamination may compromise their on-going use to supply water for domestic or food production purposes

Chemicals in the environment are derived from a variety of sources. Some chemicals are ubiquitous and are best managed at a national scale whereas others are particular to an activity and their management should be focused at a local scale. Many chemicals are banned from production or use (or both) but are persistent in the environment for long periods and continue to be monitored to demonstrate that existing controls are adequate, and concentrations are decreasing. Managing chemicals will ensure that the impact on aquatic life and human uses of water and the flora and fauna that live in it are minimised.

As new chemicals are manufactured and used, and the assessment of chemicals improves to better manage any risks, the range of chemicals and the way they are assessed has evolved since the first river basin management plan was published in 2009. See section 3.2.3 in this document on the approach to chemicals classification.

Better understanding of the sources of priority substances and the ways in which pollution occurs will help to target measures to phase-out emissions or reduce pollution of the most relevant chemicals and avoids wasted effort on chemicals of little or no relevance.

For further information on the pressures associated with chemicals see the following documents:

3.4. Reasons for not achieving good status and reasons for deterioration

Where an element is classified as being at less than good status, an assessment is needed of the measures that could be taken to improve the status to good. In order to identify appropriate measures it is first necessary to understand the cause of the failure. The cause is recorded using a defined set of reasons. Where a biological element is at less than good status the pressure, for example ammonia or sediments, causing the failure is also identified.

In addition to identifying the pressure, the type and source of the problem are also identified. This consists of 3 pieces, or tiers, of information:

tier 1: significant water management issue, for example, diffuse source, point source or physical modification
tier 2: more detailed activity or source, such as arable field, sewage discharge (continuous) or flood protection structures
tier 3: sector, for example, agriculture and rural land management, water industry or Environment Agency

If more than one reason for not achieving good status is identified for a failing element (or for a pressure affecting a biological element) then the source apportionment of each reason is also recorded. So if there are two sources of ammonia, a diffuse source and a point source, then the relative contribution of each source to the overall ammonia problem is recorded.

A level of certainty (suspected, probable or confirmed) is also assigned to each reason for not achieving good status, based on a weight of evidence approach.

Suspected:

there is some information that points to a possible reason for not achieving good status
further investigations are required before site specific measures can be identified
part of the source-pathway-receptor linkage is missing, for example, a probable source and receptor has been identified but the pathway is not established

Probable:

there is reasonable evidence that points to the reason for not achieving good status
further investigations are required before site specific regulatory or expensive measures can be considered
the source-pathway-receptor linkage has been established with reasonable certainty. There is reasonable evidence which generally give a consistent (that is, not contradictory) picture

Confirmed:

there is compelling evidence for the reason for not achieving good status. The available evidence should demonstrate cause and effect in a way that would be compelling to all stakeholders
no further investigations into the reasons for not achieving good status are required before site specific regulatory or expensive measures can be justified
the source-pathway-receptor linkage has been established. There is good evidence which gives a consistent (that is, not contradictory) picture

Defining the problem in this way supports the appraisal of appropriate measures to address the problem. The source apportionment information informs the targeting of effort and where appropriate, the analysis of the costs and benefits of any measures. The same approach is used for recording reasons for deterioration.

You can view a summary of the reasons for not achieving good status and reasons for deterioration for water bodies in the English data downloads on SEPA’s Water Environment Hub.

3.5. Assessing and managing risk

3.5.1. Risk assessments

The WFD Regulations require the pressures acting on each water body to be identified. This can mean any pressure that on its own, or in combination with other pressures, represents a risk of failure to achieve the environmental objectives of the river basin management plans.

Risk assessments produced for the 2009 plans were reviewed for the 2015 update to the plans and, where new data and information was available, the risk assessments were updated.

These risk assessments have been reviewed again for this update to the plans but having been assessed as appropriate they have not been changed. The Environment Agency has published the methodologies and results for these risk assessments (which you can download).

3.5.2. Managing risk

Risk information was used to optimise the design of the monitoring programmes. Many other aspects of catchment scale planning are also partly informed by the water body risk assessments, for example, informing whether failure to achieve an objective is due to an environmental problem, and to help design monitoring programmes.

Risk information has also been used by catchment partnerships in developing the catchment level programme of measures. Catchment partnerships used the Environment Agency future predicted pressures, alongside their local knowledge to consider what actions and measures would be needed to mitigate future challenges. The future challenges, actions and measures of the catchment partnerships can be seen in the catchment partnership pages available on SEPA’s Water Environment Hub.

Feedback from catchment partnerships and others through the Challenges and Choices consultation has highlighted the importance of improving the management of risk. As part of this plan there are proposals to work collaboratively with partners to develop shared approach to understanding existing and emerging risks. A shared understanding of current risks and future status will be hugely important if partners want to work together in a complementary way to reduce risks to the water environment at national and local levels.

Question 4

4.  Updating objectives

Accepted Answer

4.1. Reviewing and updating water body status objectives

Water body status objectives describe the long term aim for specific parts of the water environment. Identifying appropriate water body status objectives and the measures that are needed to achieve them is at the heart of the river basin planning process.

Water body status objectives are legally binding; that is, the Secretary of State and Environment Agency must exercise their relevant functions so as to secure compliance with the requirements of the WFD Regulations and this includes the environmental objectives in river basin management plans.

All public bodies must have regard to the river basin management plans, including the water body status objectives, when exercising their functions that could affect the quality of the water environment.

Water body status objectives consist of two pieces of information: the target status (such as good) and the target date by which that status is planned to be achieved (for example, by 2021).

The target status is based on a prediction of the future status that would be achieved if technically feasible measures are implemented and, when implemented, would give rise to more benefits than they cost. The objective also takes into account the requirement to prevent deterioration.

The target date is the year by which the future status is predicted to be achieved. The date is determined by considering whether the measures needed to achieve the planned status are currently affordable and, once implemented, the time taken for ecology or the groundwater to recover.

In general the target date can only be extended beyond 2027 in specific and limited circumstances (different timescales apply to some priority substances as described below). Whilst many water bodies have an objective of reaching good by 2027, the confidence of achieving good by this date varies depending on the level of confidence that all of the necessary measures will be in place before that date. To be clear and transparent about this level of confidence, the objectives set for 2027 are expressed in two ways, for example:

good by 2027 where there is a confidence that the target status will be met by 2027, based on a reasonable expectation that all of the necessary measures will be in place
good by 2027 (low) where there is still uncertainty about whether all of the necessary measures will be in place to achieve the target status by 2027

For the following priority substances the overall objective is to aim to achieve good status by 2021, with extended deadlines on the grounds of technical feasibility or disproportionate cost being possible until 2033: anthracene, brominated diphenylethers (PBDEs), fluoranthene, lead and its compounds, naphthalene, nickel and its compounds, and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

For the following priority substances the overall objective is to aim to achieve good status by 2027, with extended deadlines on the grounds of technical feasibility or disproportionate cost being possible until 2039: dicofol, perfluorooctane sulfonic acid and its derivatives (PFOS), quinoxyfen, dioxins and dioxin-like compounds, aclonifen, bifenox, cybutryne, cypermethrin, dichlorvos, hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDD), heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide, and terbutryn.

For surface waters, objectives were reviewed and updated for ecological and chemical status. For artificial or heavily modified water bodies, objectives were reviewed and updated for ecological potential and chemical status. For groundwater, objectives were reviewed and updated for quantitative and chemical status.

The requirement to prevent deterioration was considered when setting the water body status objectives. This applies to a water body’s overall status and to the status of each element used in classification.

The circumstances in which alternative objectives have been set for water bodies under regulations 16 and 17 of the WFD Regulations are described in the ‘River basin planning: guide to alternative objectives Solway Tweed’ document. Objectives for water bodies in the England can be downloaded from the SEPA’s Water Environment Hub.

4.2. Reviewing and updating objectives for European site protected areas

The WFD Regulations require the objectives for European site protected areas to be met. Under the Regulations, this must be achieved by 2021 if not already achieved. The objective for the national site network of European sites is to contribute to maintaining or restoring their habitats and species at favourable conservation status across their natural range in the UK. Each European site must contribute to this objective. The provisions of the WFD only relate water-dependent European sites.

In England, Natural England provides formal advice as to the conservation objectives for terrestrial and inshore European sites. Conservation objectives relate to each of the habitats and species for which a European site is designated. They set out the broad aims or requirements needed to conserve, restore and enhance the habitats and species.

In addition, there are quantitative targets for monitoring specific attributes linked to the objectives for all European sites that are described in UK Common Standards Monitoring Guidance issued by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Natural England uses the Common Standards Monitoring Guidance targets to periodically assess and report on the condition of the designated features of European sites. This monitoring provides an indication of whether a site’s conservation objectives are being met or not.

Where European sites are rivers, lakes, coastal or estuarine waters they may need to meet specific water quality and flow targets set out in the Common Standards Monitoring Guidance in order to be assessed as being in favourable condition and for the habitats and species to be contributing to favourable conservation status.

A European site protected area may fall partly or wholly within one or more WFD water bodies. In these situations the conservation objectives apply in addition to the water body environmental objectives.

The water quality and flow targets underpinning the conservation objectives for European site protected areas are published as part of this river basin management plan. The same information is also presented for some rivers that are notified as SSSIs. This can be downloaded from [European sites protected area summary tables].

The circumstances in which alternative objectives have been set for some European sites under regulations 16 and 17 of the WFD Regulations are described in the River basin planning: guide to alternative objectives Solway Tweed document.

4.3. Economic appraisals

In 2005, in preparation for the 2009 plans, a wide-ranging economic analysis was carried out and reported through a collaborative research programme overseen by UK authorities (in England this was undertaken by Defra) and stakeholder organisations. As a result, Article 5 WFD Economic Analysis of Water use reports were produced that describe the socio-economic characteristics of each river basin district and sectors’ use of water. These reports have been reviewed for the river basin management plans but not updated as the socio-economic characteristics have not significantly changed.

Defra and the Environment Agency will continue to develop an economic analysis to provide evidence for water policy development. Future economic analysis will include projections of bills for water and sewerage services for household and non-household customers using a commissioned model. Where new policies or changes in water-related policy are considered, in line with government practice, appropriate economic analysis will be carried out.

The Environment Agency, as a public body seeks to identify those areas where money could be spent to achieve the best outcomes for society.

Catchment economic appraisals were undertaken to assess the benefits, cost and any negative impacts of implementing measures to improve the water environment. The Environment Agency designed a robust approach, based on HM Treasury guidelines, that is proportionate and fit for purpose. The approach is designed to aid decision making on setting objectives. Specifically, those instances where there is sufficient evidence to justify setting a less stringent water body objective on the grounds of disproportionate expense.

Water Appraisal Guidance and associated cost benefit analysis tools have been developed in consultation with a range of stakeholders. The features of the economic appraisal approach are that:

it is catchment based, covering all water body types. This is important to help achieve integrated and cross pressure management of the water environment
it is about identifying the greatest level of improvement that is justified where the benefits to the environment and society outweigh the cost of implementing measures
it builds up a broad picture of the environmental outcomes and benefits of measures in a descriptive way, using an ecosystem services framework, and includes a monetary estimation of the major benefits
it is a systematic and transparent framework that helps engagement with others in managing the water environment

The results of the economic appraisals help ensure that wider benefits and the value of the water environment are considered in decision making.

4.3.1. Measures assessed in economic appraisals

The measures included in economic appraisals are considered to be technically feasible and the most cost-effective way of improving the water environment. Measures for a catchment are grouped together into a bundle so all costs and the range of benefits can be taken account of and assessed together. This approach recognises the interdependencies within a catchment.

The catchment economic appraisals focused particularly on measures to achieve improvements in water body status, where information on costs and benefits are required to inform objective setting. Other measures (and their costs and benefits) relating to certain protected area objectives and measures that specifically prevent a water body deteriorating were considered at national level rather than in the catchment economic appraisals. Different considerations apply to different categories of protected areas.

Costs were from local and national sources and are based on previous experience of implementing similar measures. Where more specific, local cost information is available this has been used in place of national estimates.

If the bundle of measures to improve all water bodies in the catchment to good status or good potential is not considered to be justified (the cost of implementing the measures outweighs the benefits to the environment and society) or would have significant adverse effects on the wider environment, an alternative bundle of measures has been appraised.

4.3.2. Consideration of disproportionate expense

In some cases, it is considered disproportionately expensive to get water bodies to good status or good potential by 2027. Disproportionate expense is a political judgement informed by economic information. Among the economic information relevant to assessing disproportionate expense are costs, benefits and ‘affordability’ or available resources.

Evidence that the negative consequences of actions (compliance costs, impacts on non-water outcomes) outweigh the positive consequences (benefits of water environment improvements) tends to suggest disproportionate expense.

Consideration of costs and benefits of a bundle of measures is used to identify the long-term objectives that are justified. Availability of resources is more relevant to the speed at which the objectives can be achieved. In some cases, even if the benefits are greater than costs for a bundle of measures, an extended deadline has been set because of affordability issues. Therefore, consideration of costs and benefits helps to determine the status part of a water body objective and information on affordability helps to propose the date by which that status can be achieved.

Where affordability is an issue, alternative financing mechanisms are considered. This might mean moving from the preferred option of the ‘polluter pays’ approach to a ‘beneficiary pays’ approach. If the beneficiary (those who directly benefit from the improved water status) is unable or unwilling to pay, other sources of funding may need to be considered.

The hierarchy for funding measures to resolve or mitigate an environmental problem is:

Polluter pays. The person whose activity causes (is at risk of causing or has caused) an environmental problem pays.
Beneficiary pays. The person who will benefit from the improvement (or reduced risk) to the environment pays (sometimes called payment for ecosystem services; PES).
Government pays. The UK government directly or indirectly (via central and local government) pays.

Question 5

5.  Programme of measures

Accepted Answer

5.1. Basic and supplementary measures

The summary programmes of measures is made up of both basic and supplementary measures, as defined in the WFD regulations.

Basic measures are associated with the implementation of other legislation for the protection of waters such as the Urban Waste Water Treatment Regulations 1994 (as amended), the Marine Strategy Regulations 2010 and the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (as amended). They also include regulatory instruments such as permitting and licensing regimes and general binding rules.

When basic measures alone are not sufficient to achieve the environmental objectives, supplementary measures are required in addition. Supplementary measures can be very diverse in nature and include negotiated agreements, economic tools and habitat restoration schemes.

5.2. Considering climate change

The need to plan for and adapt to changing climatic conditions are integral to the river basin management plans, which represent one of the Government’s key mechanisms to achieving its goals for water-dependent habitats set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan. Implementing the river basin management plans will help the country mitigate and adapt to the changing climate, that is, aiming for net zero and building resilience to more frequent flooding and drought. It will also help reverse the significant decline in water-dependent biodiversity by reconnecting and restoring essential habitat.

The Environment Agency has ensured that climate change projections of temperature, precipitation and sea level rise have been considered in the river basin management plan revisions’ process. An early stage of the river basin management plan process is to undertake public consultation on significant water management issues. As part of this, stakeholders were encouraged to consider the impact of a changing climate on water including considering environmental impacts from 2^oC and 4^oC warming scenarios drawing on the UKCP18 projections through tools such as the Environment Agency’s Climate impacts tool. Responses from stakeholders were used to help inform development of the programmes of measures present in this plan.

Within the Solway Tweed River Basin Management Plan, catchment partnerships have also been provided with future pressure assessments that included climate change, population growth and land-use change impacts to help start a conversation within the partnerships to inform the development of ‘catchment pages’. The partnerships were asked to use the future pressures to predict priority challenges using local knowledge. They were also asked to use this knowledge of likely impacts of climate change to determine priority actions and measures for their catchments over the next six years. The ambition is next to develop the risk assessments at a more local level so as to build a better understanding of local impacts from climate change.

The Solway Tweed River Basin Management Plan also collates measures from other supporting water planning and management initiatives such as the Water Industry Price Review Process, Government’s Rural Development Programme for England, the Environment Agency’s Environment Programme and National Water Resource Framework. Many of these processes have their own approaches to factoring in climate change into their decision making. For example, work is being undertaken to modify the whole life carbon planning tool to develop capabilities that will help the Environment Agency’s Environment Programme factor carbon costs into the prioritisation of projects.

As part of the programmes of measures, new action to strengthen the way climate change is factored into water management decision making, and to improve alignment and secure a more consistent approach in future have been identified. This is described in more detail in the measures section and in The climate emergency: challenges for the water environment document along with ways that we can all work together to embed climate change into decision making and adopt more nature based solutions to mitigate and adapt to a changing climate.

5.3. Mechanisms

For measures to be translated into effective action on the ground there needs to be appropriate ‘mechanisms’ in place to facilitate this.

Measures are brought about through a range of policy, legal or financial mechanisms. These include:

legislation
economic instruments
codes of good practice
negotiated agreements
promotion of good practice
education

The Programmes of measures: mechanisms summary Solway Tweed document provides more information about the mechanisms used to implement measures.

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1. Introduction

2. River basin management plans